Nuuk's citizens must decide the Hans Egede-statues future

Citizens in Greenland's capital, Nuuk, and the rest of the Sermersooq Municipality may, until Tuesday a vote on whether the statue of the Danish-Norwegian missionary and priest Hans Egede should be standing or not.

The typing of the home media CNTS, which reports that Wednesday is 555 votes to let the statue be standing and 324 votes against.

the Result of the vote will be submitted to the municipal council, who must make a decision about the statue's future the 2. september.

the Statue of Hans Egede has been the subject of debate the last time, after it was doused with paint and labeled the text 'decolonize' (afkoloniser, ed.).

Hans Egede, lived from 1686 to 1758.

He traveled to Greenland where he was trying to convert the inuit to christianity and began to colonize the country.

Among other things, the greenland member of the Danish parliament Aki-Matilda Høegh-Dam (Siumut) suggested that the statue was removed from its place in Nuuk and sent to the museum.

- Hans Egede was a missionary who was the spearhead of the colonization of Greenland under the Danish king. The here the statue stands on top of a mountain and almost guardian of Nuuk, and it symbolizes, ultimately, the colonial violence, she said 23. June.

Also in other places in the world are statues has been criticized, because they represent the persons who can be put in relation to racism or colonization.

It has happened in the wake of large demonstrations for the rights of ethnic minorities, who have set in motion a global debate about racism

the Statue of Hans Egede is, however, also from before the global debate on the statues has been repeatedly vandalized.

Among other things, the statue was in 2012, doused with paint. On the pedestal was written '666' with large, red numbers.

In Copenhagen there is a statue of Hans Egede, who stands at the marble church, also been exposed to vandalism - here, too, it happened with the red paint and the same text as the statue in Nuuk.

In 1973 the statue was, according to KNR the first time doused with red paint.