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The Museum of the Home, formerly the Geffrye Museum, has been targeted by protesters who want a statue of its namesake removed.

Speakers including Diane Abbott MP and Hackney Mayor Philip Glanville called for the likeness of Robert Geffrye, a beneficiary of the slave trade, to be removed from the front of the building.

Their demands place the museum in a difficult position: it had planned to take it down until Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden threatened to strip its funding if it did so.

Abbott said: “Removing the statue should be an opportunity to highlight and learn from this shameful period of British history.

"Honouring [Geffrye's] memory in this way is an affront to his victims and offensive to all of us who abhor slavery."

The museum said it is "continuing to listen carefully to all the issues raised and is committed to being open about the history of Geffrye on site and online".