What will happen to the 120-year-old statue toppled by Black Lives Matter protesters in UK?

Amid the intensified protests condemning racism, demonstrators in the United Kingdom toppled Edward Colston's statue installed in the southwestern city of Bristol on Sunday.

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Colston, whose 18-foot (5.5-metre) bronze statue was taken down, was a slave trader in the 17th century. He was a top official of Royal African Company, which sent hundreds of thousands of men, women and children from West Africa to the Caribbean and the Americas for slavery.

However, he was also a philanthropist, who donated huge funds to support schools, hospitals, churches, and almshouses in Bristol and his legacy can be seen on Bristol's memorials and streets.

So what will happento the toppled statue?

Marvin Rees, Mayor of Bristol said that the statue that thrown into the harbour will likely be fished out and find a place in a museum.

"It's still underwater, at some point it will be fished out... we will obviously take the statue out," Rees said, in an interview, to BBC Radio Bristol.

Highlighting that he doesn't support criminal damage, the mayor also said that the toppling is a part of "statue's history', saying that people didn't want it so they gathered together and committed the act.

Johnson denounces the act

The bringing down of the controversial statue gathered popular support, including that of Bristol mayor, still, the British government denounced the act.

UK PM Boris Johnson's spokesperson said Johnson's spokesman said that the removal of the statue was a criminal act that should be prosecuted.