PROTESTERS are continuing with a bid to remove the statue of Sir Robert Peel in Glasgow as part of a Topple the Racists campaign despite appearing to have targeted the wrong man.
Black Lives Matter protesters had vowed the monument dedicated to Sir Robert Peel, the two-time prime minister whose father had links to the slave trade, "must fall".
In the wake of protests over the death of George Floyd in the US, local campaigns and online petitions have featured demands for universities, a hospital and councils to take down statues of individuals linked to the slave trade or to re-label buildings named after them.
Supporters of The Black Lives Matter movement produced a crowd-sourced map which displays more than 50 statues of historical figures which are said to 'celebrate slavery and racism'.
They included targeting Sir Robert Peel with a citation that describes him as "Conservative PM (1834-35 and 1841-46) and creator of the modern police force. Actively petitioned against the Foreign Slave Trade Abolition Bill."
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But according to parliamentary records, it was his father who was also Sir Robert Peel, who opposed the bill in 1806 seeing it as a threat to the cotton industry.
The citation was later removed from the map.
Responding to call for a statue of Peel to be taken down in Leeds, council leader Judith Blake said: "There seems to be now a recognition that there has been some misunderstanding about the Robert Peel whose statue is in Leeds and that it was actually his father who worked in the cotton trade. "
She said the reaction in the North West, where Sir Robert was born, had been that he was a "reformer and did do many things that have had a lasting impression and impact, not least establishing a police force that doesn't carry arms."
Manchester mayor Andy Burnham said there was a "feeling there is a misunderstanding here which is that his father had links to the slave trade rather than Peel himself".
Despite this, a George Square event aimed at trying to remove a statue dedicated to Sir Robert Peel planned by Glasgow Youth Art Collective, is still planned to take place at 1pm on Sunday.
The group said: "We are aware that the media has twisted the situation to make people think we have the wrong guy. However, as the founder of the Met Police and the Tory Party, with a fortune built on cotton slavery, we definitely know why Peel must fall!
"Unfortunately, his father was openly against the abolition of slavery, and was also a pretty reprehensible character - hence the confusion."
A #PeelMustFall flier explains that one of the reasons for call to remove the George Square Peel statue is that "his family line actively worked against abolishing slavery as it threatened [the] cotton industry".
It also highlights that he was the "founder of the modern police force which continues to brutalise and kill innocent people across the UK".
It also states that Peel was the "founder of the Tory party which has always been against working class interests and Glasgow as a whole".
Over 1000 have now signed a petition calling for the removal of statues "to those involved in slavery and mass murder in Glasgow".
It highlights Robert Peel's statue in Robert Peel "the founder of the Tory party and the police" who has "next to no connection to Glasgow whatseover".
It goes on: "On top of this he oversaw the British colonial occupation in Ireland & committed untold atrocities against the Irish people. The history of anti-Irish sentiment is key to the history of Britain & having a monument to someone so instrumental in its foundation is morally bankrupt."
According to parliamentary records, it was Peel's father who was also Sir Robert Peel, who opposed Foreign Slave Trade Abolition Bill in 1806 seeing it as a threat to the cotton industry.
Peel Snr's own firm, Peel, Yateses, Halliwell & Co., signed the petition together with other merchants and manufacturers. It was presented to the House of Lords on May 13, 1806.
In the event the bill was passed on 23 May, 1806, when Peel Jr, was just 18.
The Glasgow statue to Peel Jr was vandalised by protesters earlier this week and now protest organisers say they want to see it go.
In support of the George Square event, organisers initially said: "With racist statues being toppled in Bristol and Belgium within the last couple days, Glasgow must make its mark and demand better of our city.
"Robert Peel well known racist and founder of the police and the Tory party does not belong in George Square - we the people demand working class heroes and famous BAME [black, Asian and minority ethnic] Scots are put up instead that celebrate our city's wonderful diversity and struggle of workers rights.
"We will be following the tactics of Bristol having lots of people, they can’t arrest us all and with the new administration of Glasgow and the Scottish government not wanting to look bad this can go ahead!"
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