EXCLUSIVE: New Avon and Somerset PCC says police must never surrender the streets, as Colston anniversary approaches
Mark Shelford stands by his comment that those who tore down the Colston statue last year were an "illegal mob"
Last updated 25th May 2021
Avon and Somerset's new Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) says the police must never "surrender the roads to a mob", as we approach one year since the statue of slave trader Edward Colston was torn down in Bristol.
The bronze bust depicting the merchant and prolific slave trader was removed from its plinth by Black Lives Matter (BLM) protestors last June in response to the death of George Floyd in the United States.
Mr Floyd, who was black, was killed a year ago today on the 25 May 2020 when a white police officer knelt on his neck for nine minutes.
The incident sparked global BLM protests including here in Bristol and across the UK.
The officer involved in Mr Floyd's death, Derek Chauvin, has since been charged with murder but is yet to be sentenced.
At the time the statue was torn down Police and Crime Commissioner Shelford labelled those involved a mob and in an exclusive interview to get to know the new PCC, we asked him if he stands by that statement.
"Yes," he said.
"Those people absolutely took the law into their own hands and we must never, there's a perfectly democratic and peaceful way to deal with those situations.
"You don't have to become like a mob to do things like that and we should never surrender the roads to a mob.
"It will never end well."
PCC Shelford's view stands in stark contrast to that of the Mayor of Bristol Marvin Rees, who was re-elected for a second term in the same election which saw Shelford become PCC.
At the time Rees stated he could not condone criminal damage, whilst adding he could not pretend the statue was anything other than "an affront to me".
Speaking to us in October last year on the broader topic of racial inequality Rees said: "People say well why didn't that (the statue) come down?
"As though, a year ago you could've just launched a conversation in the city about removing the Colston statue on the public stage and we just would've had a rational, dispassionate debate about the statue.
"That's just not where Bristol has been on it's journey."
We put PCC Shelford's latest comments to Marvin during a press event in Bedminster.
"I think it's an unfortunate interpretation," he said.
"As I said as the Mayor of the city I cannot condone criminal damage and it was.
"But I'm also not sad at the loss of a statue celebrating a slaver being in the middle of the city.
"My business is about making sure Bristol is a city in which, if you were elated at the statue coming down, this is a place that respects you.
"If you are sympathetic at it coming down but sad about the way it happened, this is a city that respects you.
"And if you're someone who really believes that Colston was an integral part of Bristol's identity and you've lost a piece of yourself, this is still a city that respects you.
"I've got to create a city that lives together with difference."
Mark Shelford is a Conservative and former officer in the British Army, while Marvin Rees represents Labour.
A vigil in memory of George Floyd is due to take place on College Green tonight, starting at 6pm.