Following months of protests, the Barbados government has made good on its promise to remove the controversial Lord Horatio Nelson statue from in the National Heroes Square in Bridgetown.

The statue has been in front of Parliament Buildings in Barbados for 207 years.

The removal is part of the Mia Mottley led administration’s thrust towards becoming a Republic- as was announced earlier this year. 

Speaking at the nearly four hour long ceremony on Monday, Prime Minister Mottley said the removal of the British flag officer was a signal of resigning the idea of colonialism, to replace it with national pride and appreciation for citizens of Barbados.  

“The message has to be carried by each and everyone of us. Because how we allow our children to look in the mirror and see themselves and love themselves will determine how confident they walk, how strong they talk, how decisively they move and how they can stand up to the rest of the world and give true expression to that we asserted at the time of Indpendence- that we are friends of all and satellites of none because we are confident in who we are individually as people of this nation,” she said.

The statue will be relocated to the Barbados Museum at the Garrison Savannah.