Statue of Black Lives Matter protester raised in place of toppled slave trader Edward Colston

A “beautiful” sculpture of a Black Lives Matter protester has been raised in the place of a toppled slave trader’s statue in the UK.

An unofficial sculpture of a Black Lives Matter protester has been raised in the place of a statue of a controversial British slave trader that was torn down last month.

But Bristol’s mayor says the new work was “put up without permission” and that “anything put on the plinth outside of the process we’ve put in place will have to be removed”.

“The people of Bristol will decide its future,” Marvin Rees said on Twitter.

London-based artist Marc Quinn created the resin and steel sculpture of Jen Reid, who was photographed standing on the empty plinth giving the “Black Power” salute after rioters pulled down the statue of Edward Colston and dumped it in the harbour on June 7.

Mr Quinn and a team of 10 people installed the unofficial replacement at 5am yesterday.

Ms Reid described it as “absolutely beautiful” telling The Guardian, “I’d better get a picture before they take it down.”

Colston was a 17th century Tory MP and merchant with the Royal African Company who was heavily involved in the slave trade. He bequeathed his wealth to charities upon his death in 1721 and the bronze memorial in his honour was erected in the Bristol city centre in 1895.

Jen Reid poses for a photograph in front of the sculpture. Picture: Matthew Horwood/Getty Images

The council rescued the Colston statue from the harbour on June 11 and will display it in a museum along with placards from the Black Lives Matter protest.

The movement fomented protests which led to riots and looting across the US and other Western countries in the wake of the death of Minneapolis man George Floyd at the hands of police officers.

Many of the protests involved tearing down monuments of controversial historical figures including slave traders and Confederate soldiers, but others depicting abolitionists including Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln have also been targeted.

In a statement, Mr Rees said the “future of the plinth and what is installed on it must be decided by the people of Bristol”.

“This will be critical to building a city that is home to those who are elated at the statue being pulled down, those who sympathise with its removal, but are dismayed at how it happened and those who feel that in its removal, they’ve lost a piece of the Bristol they know and therefore themselves,” he said.

“We need change. In leading that change we have to find a pace that brings people with us. There is an African proverb that says if you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together.”