Detective Inspector Elise Sharma was certain that this case wasn’t to be taken at surface level . . .
By Ewan Smith
IT was a noisy and chaotic scene. The police were doing their best to keep the two groups of protesters apart. On one side were those who had been campaigning for months to have the statue in the park removed.
They claimed Andrew Horville’s fortune came from slavery, and that it was wrong to have him honoured in such a way.
On the other side were those who pointed out that thanks to him, the town had a magnificent library, a concert hall and this park.
Removing the statue would be like trying to erase part of the town’s history, they claimed.
Privately, Detective Inspector Elise Sharma felt some sympathy for the “remove” campaigners, but kept her views to herself.
The job of the police was to maintain public order and that was what she was currently focusing on.
At a recent stormy meeting, the council had voted to have the statue removed from Horville Park and placed in the museum.
And that afternoon, the removal was taking place.
“Save our statue!” voices shouted from one side.
They were matched by chants of “Slavery Out!”, all backed by a cacophony of drums, hooters and whistles.
“I should have brought ear-plugs,” Elise muttered.
There was plenty of noise but no real attempt to stop the removal of the statue.
The crowd had been kept well away from the plinth, so the workmen could go about their business.
“I’ll be glad when this is done,” PC Colin McFarlane muttered next to her. “This statue has caused nothing but trouble for months.”
It was true, Elise thought.
Since the controversy blew up, barely a week had gone by without some stunt around the statue.
Once it was in the museum, perhaps that would mean one less problem for the police.
She winced as the anti-statue campaigners started blowing their whistles.
The pro-statue protesters responded with hooters.
But then the noise began to die down again.
The workmen had removed the bolts fixing the statue to the concrete plinth, and chains from a crane were attached to it.
The statue was about to be lifted into the air.
Everything seemed to be happening very slowly.
“Get on with it!” someone shouted, causing laughter from both sides.
The chains gradually tightened and then, to a mix of cheers and boos, the
