Queen Victoria statue in Leeds defaced with Black Lives Matter graffiti

Images sent to the Yorkshire Evening Post show the words 'Black Lives Matter and 'BLM' sprayed on the memorial to the monarch.

It comes after a statue of slave trader Edward Colston was pulled down and thrown into the river in Bristol during a Black Lives Matter protest over the weekend.

The statue of Winston Churchill in London's Parliament Square was also sprayed with the words 'was a racist'.

The Queen Victoria statue, which originally stood in front of Leeds Town Hall, has also been sprayed with the words 'educate', 'colonise' and 'slave owner'.

It is unclear who is behind the graffiti.

Black Lives Matter does not have a central structure or hierarchy.

Queen Victoria became monarch of the United Kingdom in 1837, four years after parliament passed the Slavery Abolition Act.

Queen Victoria's reign, which lasted until 1901, also saw a huge expansion of the British Empire.

Sara Forbes Bonetta, a West African princess who was sold into slavery and then liberated, became a goddaughter to Queen Victoria after coming to the UK in 1850.

A petition has also been set up online to remove the statue of Sir Robert Peel in Woodhouse Moor.

He served twice as Prime Minister and is regarded as the father of modern British policing, as well as being a founder of the modern Conservative Party.

The petition states: "Peel saw the Foreign Slave Trade Abolition Bill as a threat to the cotton industry and he raised a petition highlighting the risk it presented to merchants and their trade interests.

"Peel created the London Metropolitan Police in 1829, the ideas for which he developed while overseeing the British colonial occupation of Ireland.

"He was pivotal in setting up the police forces which maintained British rule in Ireland and a system which led to the poverty, famine and displacement of Irish people.

"Monuments and statues are celebrations of history.

"We should not celebrate colonisers and apologists for slavery.

"Peel’s statue belongs in a Museum, as part of an exhibition for others to learn about the history of British colonialism and slavery.

"Statues such as these only serve to erase this history and the stories of slaves and colonised people."

The petition has been signed by 250 people.

West Yorkshire Police said it did not have a record of the incident.

A Leeds City Council spokesperson said: “As a council and a city we will always support freedom of speech and people’s right to express their views in a peaceful and respectful way.

"However, we do have established policies regarding graffiti on public property and as a result we will be taking steps to remove graffiti from a statue on Woodhouse Moor.

“We know there is currently a passionate and ongoing debate around statues of some historic figures and we are keen to be part of that conversation and listen to any concerns people may have.

"We would ask and urge anyone who has any questions, issues or thoughts regarding any statues in Leeds to contact us so we can work together to look at the issue in more detail.”

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