JAKARTA - Demonstrations demanding budget cuts for police agencies are increasingly widespread in Canada. There, protesters even tore down a statue of the first Prime Minister (PM), the known racist John A. Macdonald on Saturday, August 29.
During the action, a group of protesters seemed to climb the Macdonald statue and knock the statue down until its head fell off. This can even be witnessed by people around the world from a series of videos downloaded by the action participants on social media.
Organized black bloc militants have toppled the statue of Canada's first prime minister, John Macdonald, in Montreal. They used umbrellas & sheets to shield their criminal comrades. The statue's head broke off as it crashed to the ground. #BLM pic.twitter.com/ViarNxmJbh
- Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) August 29, 2020
The incident of demolishing the statue has drawn criticism from political leaders. The head of the government of Quebec, Francois Legault tweeted critical of. He said, knocking down statues is not a solution.
"Whatever people think of John A. Macdonald, destroying a statue in that way is unacceptable. We have to fight racism. But destroying this part of our history is not the solution," said Legault.
Quoique l'on puisse penser de John A. MacDonald, détruire un monument ainsi est inacceptable. Il faut combattre le racisme, mais saccager des pans de notre histoire n'est pas la solution. Le vandalisme n'a pas sa place dans notre démocratie et la statue doit être restaurée.
- François Legault (@francoislegault) August 29, 2020
Not only, Legault, the leader of the opposition from the Canadian Conservative Party, Erin O'Toole also spoke up. "We will not build a better future by destroying the past."
Protesters' desire for the government to cut the police budget is not without reason. A series of violent incidents involving police, preceded by the death of black George Floyd, by police in Minneapolis, United States (US), and most recently the shooting of Jacob Blake became the trigger.
Moreover, in last June, Montreal residents were shocked by a video of the forced arrest of a Canadian indigenous leader. Through this incident, they increasingly questioned the brutality of the police in perpetuating racism.
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