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WORLD NEWS Wednesday 1 July 2020
Belgium takes down statue, king regrets colonial violence

By SAMUEL PETREQUIN times in the past and again
Associated Press after Floyd, a handcuffed
BRUSSELS (AP) — Belgium Black man, died after a
confronted its colonial past white Minneapolis police
and looked toward recon- officer knelt on his neck.
ciliation Tuesday, with the Several other monuments
king expressing regret for of the former king scat-
the violence carried out by tered across Belgium were
the country when it ruled defaced over the past
over what is now Congo. few weeks and a statue
Later in the day, the bust of the monarch in the port
of a former monarch held of Antwerp was removed
responsible for the death from a marketplace by lo-
of millions of Africans was cal authorities. Meanwhile,
taken off public display. regional authorities also
As Belgium marked the promised history course
60th anniversary of the end reforms to better explain
of its colonial rule in Congo, the true character of co-
King Philippe's words had lonialism while the federal
resounding significance Parliament decided that a
since none of his predeces- commission would look into
sors went so far as to con- Belgium's colonial past.
vey remorse. In a letter to Belgium Prime minister So-
the Congolese president, A bust of Belgium's King Leopold II, is hoisted off of its plinth by a crane as it's removed from a park phie Wilmes has called for
Felix Tshisekedi, Philippe in Ghent, Belgium on Tuesday, June 30, 2020. "an in-depth" debate con-
stopped short of issuing a Associated Press ducted "without taboo."
formal apology, but pro- The early years after he laid ing further decision from a tional protests against rac- "In 2020, we must be able to
claimed his "deepest re- claim to the African coun- city's commission in charge ism that followed the May look at this shared past with
grets" for the "acts of vio- try are especially infamous of decolonization projects. 25 death of George Floyd lucidity and discernment,"
lence and cruelty" and the for killings, forced labor and "Removing statues does not in the United States have she said Tuesday. "Any work
"suffering and humiliation" other forms of brutality that erase history, it rectifies his- given a new momentum of truth and memory be-
inflicted on Belgian Congo. some experts estimate left tory and makes new history to activists fighting to have gins with the recognition of
The removal of King Leo- as many as 10 million Con- that rightly calls into ques- monuments to Leopold re- suffering. Acknowledging
pold II's statue took place golese dead. Following a tion dominant narratives," moved. Earlier this month, the suffering of the other."
only hours after Philippe's short ceremony punctuat- said Mathieu Charles, an about 10,000 people gath- After Leopold's claimed
letter was published. The ed by readings, Leopold's activist from the Belgian ered in Brussels despite the ownership of Congo ended
monarch, who ruled Bel- bust in Ghent was attached Network for Black Lives. social distancing measures in 1908, he handed it over
gium from 1865-1909, plun- to a crane with a strap and Belgium has long struggled implemented to fight the to the Belgian state, which
dered Congo as if it were taken away from the small to come to terms with its spread of COVID-19, with continued to rule over the
his personal fiefdom, forc- park where it stood amid colonial past, instead fo- many protesters chanting colony 75 times Belgium's
ing many of its people into applause. It will be trans- cusing on the so-called anti-colonialist slogans. size until the African nation
slavery to extract resources ferred to a warehouse of a positive aspects of the col- The Leopold statue in Gh- became independent in
for his own profit. Ghent city museum pend- onization. But the interna- ent was vandalized several 1960.q

After embassy move, U.S. to sell envoy’s house near Tel Aviv

By ILAN BEN ZION Herzliya," it said. "Much of Jerusalem. But the Palestin-
Associated Press the embassy's operations ians claim east Jerusalem
JERUSALEM (AP) — The U.S. have shifted to Jerusalem —which Israel captured in
State Department has put and the ambassador has 1967 and later annexed in
the ambassador to Israel's established an official resi- a move unrecognized by
official residence outside dence there." most of the international
Tel Aviv up for sale, in a de- The Trump administration community — as capital
cision aimed at cement- moved the embassy from of a future state.
ing the American embas- Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in The presumptive Demo-
sy's controversial move to 2018, shortly after recog- cratic presidential nomi-
Jerusalem. nizing Jerusalem as Israel's nee, Joe Biden, said in
The beachfront mansion capital. Friedman, a long- April that he considered
in the affluent Tel Aviv time supporter of Israel's the Trump administra-
suburb of Herzliya is going hard-line settler move- tion's decision to move the
on the market because ment, played a lead- embassy "short-sighted
most of Ambassador Da- ing role in the embassy's and frivolous," but said he In this March 20, 2019, file photo, U.S. Secretary of State Mike
vid Friedman's day-to-day move. Most foreign del- would not move it back Pompeo meets U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman
upon his arrival at Ben Gurion International Airport, near Tel
activities are based at the egations have their em- to Tel Aviv if elected presi- Aviv, Israel.
embassy in Jerusalem, the bassies in Tel Aviv because dent in November. The Associated Press
State Department said. of Jerusalem's contested paper said the house,
"Following the decision status. Israel's parliament, which sits on a 1.25- acre that price, it would be the lionaire Roman Abramov-
to move the embassy to supreme court, president's (0.5 hectare) plot of land, most expensive residen- ich's recent purchase of
Jerusalem it made sense residence and most minis- has a roughly $87 million tial sale in the country, a home in Herzliya for $65
to sell the residence in tries are headquartered in asking price. If it sells at topping Russian-Israeli bil- million earlier this year. q