Unprecedented events are taking place in many parts of the world after anti-apartheid protests spread across the United States, following the May 26, killing of black George Floyd by police in Minneapolis.
Protests have been raging across the United States for several days since George Floyd's death, with protesters clashing with law enforcement in several places.
The incident has sparked protests in countries around the world other than the United States - where people have demanded an end to all forms of discrimination, including racism.
And over the last few days, there has been a new trend in the protests, with protesters vandalizing or tearing down sculptures of many historical leaders or celebrities in many places.
Protesters in Britain's 'Black Lives Matter' smashed a statue of Edward Colston in Bristol.
And the sculpture of Christopher Columbus has been broken in America itself.
It has been demanded that the cantonments named after Confederate generals in the United States should be renamed.
Twenty dollar note
How much the ongoing protests will change the world will be understood later, but the event that started the protests involved only a $20 note.
George Floyd was accused of trying to buy cigarettes from a store with a counterfeit $20 bill.
Authorities released a copy of the conversation between the shopkeeper and George Floyd, claiming that the note that George Floyd had given, the store employee wanted to get back the cigarettes sold to Floyd after he suspected it to be counterfeit.
The copy, based on the shopkeeper's phone call to police, said the shopkeeper suspected the man was "drunk" and "out of control."
However, in an interview with NBC, shop owner Mike Abumayyaleh said George Floyd was a regular customer of his shop and had never abused anyone.
In another interview with Reuters, Mike Abumayyaleh said he would not have to call the police if he had been in the store on the day of the incident, and George Floyd might have survived.
An eyewitness who visited the store shortly after the incident told the New York Times that a teenage employee at the store called the police that day because it was the rule to call the police if there was a suspicion of counterfeit notes.
The eyewitness further said that the employee was suffering from 'self-loathing' after seeing the consequences of Floyd.
When Black men were product
Edward Colston of Bristol was a slave trader in the seventeenth century.
It is estimated that between 1672 and 1689, about 80,000 black people were sent to America as slaves on Edward Colston's ship.
The slave trade is directly linked to Bristol's history of development and prosperity. So the memory of Colston in Bristol has been honored for centuries.
However, many people in Bristol have been demanding the removal of the sculpture for a long time.
Following the removal of Colston's statue, many are demanding that the sculptures of many others associated with racism and the slave trade in various parts of Britain be removed.
Protesters have been protesting in several parts of the United States since the incident. Statues of several famous and historically important people have already been vandalized in various cities.
U.S. authorities have also recently come under pressure to change the name of a military base named after some Confederate leaders during the civil war.
Why are the protesters breaking the statue?
Protesters are demanding that the idols of those involved in racism, slavery or the slave trade not be kept in public. If they have to be kept in the need of history, they have to be transferred to a museum.
In the last few days, statues of the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus have been smashed in several US cities. He is said to have been the man who came to America in the sixteenth century and used the natives as slaves.
Many people in the United States remember Columbus fondly. In many schools, Columbus is described as the "discoverer of the new world" in his biography.
But Native Americans have been opposed to this move for many years. According to them, the Columbus campaign was the reason behind the colonial rule in America and the genocide of the Native Americans.
Statues of Columbus have been smashed in the states of Minnesota and Virginia, and in Boston and Miami.
Protesters uprooted a statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis in Richmond, Virginia, on Wednesday.
In the mid-19th century, there were several states in the United States known as Confederate states, which united to form a separate sovereign state from the United States. The Confederates were later defeated in the American Civil War.
Confederate states were in favor of slavery and were in favor of legalizing slavery.
And this is why the protesters are demanding the removal of the statues of the Confederate leaders. According to them, in order to establish an America, free of racism and apartheid, it is necessary to stop glorifying the leaders who have established racism in the society and state system.
And those activities have to start by deleting their memories in different places.
Many cities and organizations in the United States have decided to remove statues of Confederate leaders and symbols that express Confederate doctrine. The removal of these symbols has been demanded for a long time due to its involvement in racism.
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