London, June 9 (RHC)-- The toppling by anti-racism protesters of a statue of a slave trader Edward Colston in the English port city of Bristol has given new urgency to a debate about how Britain should confront some of the darkest chapters of its history.

Statues of figures from Britain's imperialist past have in recent years become the subject of controversies between those who argue that such monuments merely reflect history and those who say they glorify racism.

Many people criticized the government for its reactions to the incident.  UK interior minister Priti Patel called the felling of the statue an "utterly disgraceful" distraction from the protesters' cause, while policing minister Kit Malthouse denounced "mobs just turning up and deciding to do whatever they like."