Bristol artist Bansky has posted a picture suggesting what could happen to the empty plinth in the city which had housed the statue of slave trader Edward Colston.

He wrote on Instagram: “Here’s an idea that caters for both those who miss the Colston statue and those who don’t.

“We drag him out the water, put him back on the plinth, tie cable round his neck and commission some life size bronze statues of protestors in the act of pulling him down. Everyone happy. A famous day commemorated.”

It comes days after a Black Lives Matter demonstration in Bristol saw protesters topple the statue of Colston before dragging and rolling the bronze monument into the harbour.

Police have launched an investigation into the incident.

Colston was the deputy governor of the Royal Africa Company (RAC) from 1680 to 1692, at that time Britain’s only official slaving company.

For many, the sight of his statue dropping to the bottom of the River Avon, at the exact spot his ships would have once left for West Africa, was a fitting end to more than a century of his presence in the city centre. 

Throughout that time he was responsible for the transportation of some 84,500 enslaved men, women and children. Almost 20,000 of them did not survive the journey, and were thrown overboard. 

The statue was one of a number of landmarks in Bristol to take Colston’s name, although the nearby music venue Colston Hall will be renamed this year as part of a major refurbishment.