Scouts founder Baden-Powell's statue faces removal

Scouts founder Baden-Powell's statue faces removal

A statue of Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the scout movement, is to be removed from a southern English town.

Although hailed for the scouts, Baden-Powell also supported fascism.

Lucy Fielder reports.

A statue of Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the scouts, is to be removed from a town in southern England.

Critics say while he's hailed for creating the worldwide scouting movement, he also held racist views and supported Adolf Hitler and fascism.

Poole council is to remove the statue, which looks across the harbour towards Brownsea Island, where the scouts started in 1907.

It will be held in storage while local communities discuss an appropriate future for it.

Black Lives Matter demonstrations sweeping across the United States and Europe have reignited a debate in Britain about monuments to those involved in its imperialist past.

On Sunday, protesters in the port city of Bristol toppled a statue of 17th Century slave trader Edward Colston.

It was dredged out of the harbour they threw it in on Thursday.

It is to be housed in a museum -- and displayed alongside Black Lives Matter placards.

A spokesman for the Scouts said the organization was looking forward to discussing the Baden-Powell statue's future with the council "to make an informed decision on what happens next." And said the scouts were committed to inclusion and diversity.