Bust of former Belgian king removed in Ghent

A bust of King Leopold II of Belgium has been removed from display in Ghent a day after the country’s current king, Philippe, expressed his regrets for Belgium’s colonization of the Congo and the resulting atrocities, The Associated Press reported.

Leopold privately owned the so-called Congo Free State from 1885 to 1908, during which time he is believed to have killed up to 10 million people while using the country as a plantation for rubber production. The Belgian government assumed control of the country in 1909, only granting the Congolese their independence in 1960.

Leopold was widely condemned for atrocities during his lifetime, but was largely remembered for his domestic policies and work to improve Belgian public works until 1999, when the publication of historian Adam Hochschild’s book “King Leopold’s Ghost” renewed scrutiny on his activities in the Congo and their legacy.

Since U.S. protests against racism and police brutality began to spread to other countries, monuments to Leopold have been a frequent target of vandalism in Belgium, including a statue in Antwerp that was set on fire by demonstrators and a frequently-graffitied statue of the king on horseback in Brussels.

The Ghent monument was removed with a crane from the small park where it was located after a brief ceremony commemorating the 60th anniversary of Congolese independence, according to the AP.

The removal came the same day King Philippe expressed his “deepest regrets” for “acts of violence and cruelty” by the Belgian Congo in a letter to President Felix Tshisekedi, although he did not offer a formal apology.

“To further strengthen our ties and develop an even more fruitful friendship, we must be able to talk to each other about our long common history in all truth and serenity,” Philippe, the first sitting king of Belgium to repudiate colonial atrocities, wrote in the letter Tuesday.