I'm with michaelr. A statue of a political figure is a political statement. I would have hated to have lived in one of those countries in which I was confronted daily by massive portraits of Mao or Ceaucescu or Stalin or Saddam everywhere I went. When I saw things like that on the telly they made me shudder. So what's so different about political statues? In democracies politics is often polarising, even divisive. Your choice of hero may not be mine. That requires respect on both sides and it requires compromise in order to avoid offence. Put the statues in museums or memorial gardens where no-one has to see them if they don't want to. That's freedom.