The statues of Leopold II, are the target of anti-racist activists in Belgium, where the debate on the violence of the colonization by belgium in the Congo has been re-opened.
A bust of the ex-king Leopold II, a controversial figure of the colonial past of Belgium, has once again been degraded in the park, the Africa Museum in Brussels. The sculpture has been covered with red paint and its base the inscription “BLM II”, in reference to the movement “Black Lives Matter”.
READ ALSO >> Belgium : Antwerp withdrew a controversial statue of the ex-Belgian king Leopold II
The museum’s director, Guido Gryseels, has indicated that they have been alerted to facts Friday. The work has already been coated with paint at the beginning of June and is the subject of regular damage. It is the third this year, said the director of the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren, which was renamed the Africa Museum since its renovation in 2018.
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sculptures removed to Ghent and Antwerp
The museum, in consultation with the governance owner of the work, plans to install an information plaque on Leopold II, the origin of the museum and other achievements in Tervuren, belgium, to remember also that its contributions are made “at the price of blood, a very great violence,” said Guido Gryseels. A discussion will also be conducted on the future of the sculpture, that “a lot of people would like to remove,” notes the director.
The statues of Leopold II, are the target of anti-racist activists in Belgium, where the debate on the violence of the colonization of the belgian Congo and the responsibility of the former king has been re-opened with the protests against the death of the Afro-american George Floyd during his arrest by the police on 25 may Minneapololis. Two sculptures bearing his likeness were removed in June of a square in Antwerp and a park in Ghent.
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Nicknamed “the builder king”, the one who reigned from 1865 to 1909, is one of the historical figures, the most controversial of Belgium. In the name of “civilizing mission” of Belgium in the Congo, he set up a colonial regime, described by historians as one of the most violent in history, to exploit the Congo’s riches, primarily the rubber.
