A British prosecution lawyer is under investigation after it emerged she had shared a petition on Facebook organised by far-right group Britain First that called for a statue of “terrorist” Nelson Mandela to be “torn down”. Kim Kendall, who works in northern England, is classed as a civil servant at the Crown Prosecution Service and is supposed to be impartial and politically neutral. An investigation by <em>The Guardian </em>newspaper found she had shared the petition set up by Britain First, which was addressed to Prime Minister Boris Johnson and interior minister Priti Patel. It calls for the removal of the statute of Mandela, the figurehead in the fight against apartheid in South Africa. It comes as campaigners in the UK call for memorials linked to the country's colonial past to be taken down after the death of George Floyd in the United States. But far-right groups such as Britain First have hit back and clashed with rival protesters and police after claiming to be protecting British values. A figure of wartime prime minister Sir Winston Churchill was boarded up after it was scrawled with graffiti accusing him of being a racist. “While British historical statues are being torn down and vandalised by Black Lives Matter, a statue of the communist and terrorist mass murderer Nelson Mandela is still standing in Parliament Square!” the petition reads. “'Black Lives Matter' (BLM) activists argue that statues that represent great wrongs that have been done in the past should be torn down – and on that basis, Nelson Mandela's statue in Parliament Square should be top of the list for demolition," it continues. “We, the undersigned, demand that the statue of Nelson Mandela to be torn down forthwith in order that any memory of this violent communist and terrorist be consigned to the dustbin of history.” Ms Kendall’s Facebook page has since been taken down.
