As protests grow, Belgium faces its racist colonial past When the Black Lives Matter protests reached Belgium, they targeted the bloodstained legacy of King Leopold IIThis photo taken Wednesday, June 10, 2020, shows a statue of King Leopold II riding a horse at the Institute of National Museums of Congo, in the Mont Ngaliema area of the capital Kinshasa, Congo. The protests sweeping the world after George Floyd's death in the U.S. have added fuel to a movement to confront Europe's role in the slave trade and its colonial past. On Wednesday, an internet petition to rid the capital, Brussels, of any Leopold statue swept past 70,000 signatures. In Kinshasa, a replica of the main Leopold statue in Brussels had already been relegated to a museum park ages ago. Museum Director Guido Gryseels fully understands the challenges and the sensitivities, especially after a Leopold statue was defaced in the gardens outside the museum last week.

Source: ABC News June 11, 2020 07:41 UTC