Three years on from the toppling of the Edward Colston statue in Bristol, an organiser of a Black Lives Matter protest in the city has admitted to fraudulently taking money from a fundraising page dedicated to the demonstration. The fundraiser had reportedly raised tens of thousands of pounds.

Xahra Saleem, 23, pleaded guilty to one count of fraud at Bristol Crown Court on 19 September. Saleem, a member of the group All Black Lives Matter UK, had co-organised the anti-racism protest on 7 June 2020 in the wake of the killing of George Floyd. She set up a webpage to collect funds to buy PPE for those attending the protest with an agreement allegedly made for any excess funds to go to the youth charity Changing Your Mindset Ltd, also based in Bristol.

In January, Bristol Magistrates Court heard that although Saleem’s fundraiser raised thousands of pounds, Changing Your Mindset never received any of the money. Saleem has also been charged in connection with another fundraising page following the protest, the funds from which are also alleged not to have been handed over.

Saleem will be sentenced on 31 October.