‘Colonialist profiteer': Boarded up Edinburgh shop vandalised on Dundas Street

Anti-racist graffiti has appeared on a boarded up shopfront on Dundas Street in Edinburgh’s New Town.

The graffiti appeared under the Dundas Street sign

The shop, formerly a newsagents which was believed to be undergoing renovation to become a cafe had the graffiti drawn across the windows and shutters which read ‘Son of slaver Dundas + Colonialist Profiteer’.

It is not believed that the graffiti is in relation to the shop owner, but can be reasonably assumed the space was targeted due to it being underneath the ‘Dundas Street’ street sign.

The news comes as Edinburgh City Council leader Adam McVey said he would feel "no sense of loss" if a statue of a Henry Dundas who delayed the abolition of slavery was removed.

The Melville Monument has also come under fire

Dundas Street is also named after the 1st Viscount Melville, who worked to frustrate efforts to end the trade by using his influence as home secretary, setting the move back 15 years.

A 150ft column with a statue of the politician - known as the Melville Monument - stands in St Andrew Square and was vandalised during the Black Lives Matter protest in the Scottish capital on Sunday.

Cllr McVey told BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme: "I would have absolutely no sense of loss if the Dundas statue was removed and replaced with something else or left as a plinth.

"I think it's important to tell our story as a city, I think it's important that that's reflective, that's representative of what actually happened - not what we might have wanted to happen - and I think we take that conversation from there."