Call for Brussels statue to be melted and made into memorial for Congo victims

Expert group offers two options for statue of King Leopold II that pay tribute to millions who died under his colonial rule

A bronze statue of 19th-century Belgian king Leopold II in the centre of Brussels could be melted down and turned into a monument to the millions who died during his brutal rule of the Belgian Congo and other victims of colonialism, an expert group has suggested.

The group of historians, architects and other specialists, commissioned by the Brussels regional government, also suggests a second option for the Leopold II bronze: creating an open-air statue park to house the equestrian work, along with other controversial monuments to figures of the colonial past.