FOUR Cherwell district councillors have called on Oriel College, Oxford, to take down its statue of Cecil Rhodes.

Katherine Tyson, Conrad Copeland, Ian Middleton and Nick Cotter said: "We join with the Rhodes Must Fall campaign, and the wider Black Lives Matter movement, in calling for Oriel College to do right and finally remove the statue of Cecil Rhodes.

Campaigners staged a protest in front of the college on Tuesday organised by the Rhodes Must Fall campaign, which says the South African politician was a racist.

Read again: The Rhodes Must Fall protest in 15 pictures

The college said it would not remove the statue.

In their letter the councillors said:

As Progressive Oxfordshire councillors we, the undersigned, support the Rhodes Must Fall movement in its efforts to remove the statue of Cecil Rhodes from Oxford University’s campus and Oxford City’s high street.

Creating an inclusive and representative public space is a central part of the mission of government. Maintaining the public prominence of a white supremacist such as Cecil Rhodes directly impinges on this effort.

We join with the Rhodes Must Fall campaign, and the wider Black Lives Matter movement, in calling for Oriel College to do right and finally remove the statue of Cecil Rhodes. Statues of white supremacists and slave merchants should not still be standing in our cities. The proper place for this statue is in a museum where the proper context and history can be situated. To leave it in the public domain is to remind members of our community that we have failed to listen and take their grievances seriously.

This should be the beginning of a wider national discussion on the legacy of slavery and colonialism in our society. We have a past that is marred by our colonial history and a larger conversation that engages with local communities will be a step toward healing some of the wounds caused by this history.

The University of Oxford, the City of Oxford, and Oxfordshire County must work with local residents to ensure that non-inclusive relics of the past are not displayed as publicly endorsed monuments.