Anti-racism campaigners rename Glasgow streets linked to slave trade

One sign 'renames' road as George Floyd Street

A sign alternatively naming Wilson Street 'Rosa Parks Street' in Glasgow on 6 June, 2020. (Andrew Milligan/PA Wire)

Anti-racism campaigners have decided to rename streets in the centre of Glasgow that are connected with the slave trade, replacing them with the names of slaves, black activists and those killed by the police.

New plaques, which have a black background and a white font, appeared below the official names of several streets in the city centre on Friday afternoon, ahead of a Black Lives Matter protest scheduled for Sunday.

Buchanan Street, named after Andew Buchanan, a tobacco lord and slave owner, was renamed George Floyd Street, in memory of the man who was killed by police in Minnesota, US, on 25 May.

However, the new sign has now been taken down.

Activists also changed the names of Cochrane Street and Wilson Street to Sheku Bayoh Street and Rosa Parks Street respectively.

A sign alternatively naming Cochrane Street 'Sheku Bayoh Street' in Glasgow on 6 June, 2020. (Andrew Milligan/PA Wire)

Like Floyd, Sheku Bayoh, 32, died in police custody after being restrained by officers who responded to a call in Kirkcaldy, Fife, five years ago.

His sister, who works as a nurse, said her family would have taken part in planned protests in Scotland this weekend but the risk of spreading coronavirus is “still too great”.

A change.org petition calling on Glasgow City County to change the names of streets linked to the slave trade has so far received more than 12,000 signatories.

The petitions states: “Currently there are many streets in Glasgow which are named after slave owners, such as Glassford Street (John Glassford), Ingram Street (Archibald Ingram) and Buchanan street (Andrew Buchanan) glorifying the slave owners of the past".

“I think it's important to take these tobacco lords off the pedestal they seemingly stand on and instead recognise other Scottish activists who are deserving of such esteem,” the petition adds.

Elsewhere, Floyd’s death has led to two petitions in Belgium demanding the removal of statues of King Leopold II, whose soldiers committed atrocities in Congo in the late 1800s.

In the Belgian city of Ghent, a bust of Leopold II was vandalised with the words “I can’t breath”, the same words spoken by Floyd while his neck was pinned down by Derek Chauvin, who has been charged with his murder.

Additional reporting from PA