This archive report was first published on 2 July 2020.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Metropolitan Police received a report of damage to a Haile Selassie statue in Cannizaro Park, Wimbledon, southwest London.
According to eyewitness Andrew Morris, a group of around 100 people, mostly men, appeared to have carried out the damage.
"I heard the statue being smashed up but didn't actually see it happen," Morris said, who was walking his dog in the park at the time.
"They (the group) weren't some rabid mob. They looked pretty calm. I didn't think they were in danger of attacking anyone," Morris added.
The damage comes after two days of deadly protests in Ethiopia following the murder of popular singer Hachalu Hundessa.
Hundessa's political songs gave voice to the grievances of the Oromo people, and his killing sparked angry protests that left 81 dead by Wednesday.
Police said no arrests had been made, and Morris noted that the group in Wimbledon had fliers with Oromo slogans.
Haile Selassie, Ethiopia's last emperor, lived in exile in Wimbledon in 1936 after his country was invaded by Italian forces.
The statue in Cannizaro Park, a head and shoulders bust in stone, was made by Hilda Seligman, Haile Selassie's former host.
Originally standing in the grounds of Lincoln House, on the edge of Wimbledon Common where Selassie took refuge, the statue was later moved to the nearby park and restored in 2005.
