Bristol's Black Lives Matter statue removed

The sculpture was removed at 05:30 BST on Thursday having been in place for just over 24 hours

A Black Lives Matter statue that was secretly put up in Bristol has been removed after just a single day on display.

The sculpture of protestor Jen Reid was removed by council workers from the plinth where a controversial statue of slave trader Edward Colston once stood.

The city's mayor, Marvin Rees, said it was up to the people of Bristol to decide what would replace the statue of Colston.

The council did say they would look after the statue at the city's museum "for the artist to collect or donate to our collection".

Jen Reid posed with her statue, which appeared on the empty plinth on Wednesday

The statue, called A Surge of Power, was created by artist Marc Quinn and designed to be a temporary installation to continue the conversation about racism.

He said he was inspired to create it after seeing an image of Ms Reid standing on the plinth with her fist raised during the Black Lives Matter protest on 7 June.

Mr Quinn then contacted Ms Reid through social media and they worked together on the statue, which was erected shortly before 04:30 on Wednesday.

Bristol City Council said the sculpture of Ms Reid would be moved to a museum after its removal

It was taken away in the back of a lorry by 05:30 on Thursday.

The mayor explained the decision to swiftly remove it.

"I understand people want expression," he said, "but the statue has been put up without permission.

"Anything put on the plinth outside of the process we've put in place will have to be removed."

The new statue attracted people both supporting it and against it on Wednesday