• In a series of tweets, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson suggested statues are part of the country's history.
• "To tear them down would be to lie about our history," Johnson reasoned.
• He also continued his unaligned stance on the current Black Lives Matter protest.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Friday said a wave of anti-racism protests across Britain had been "hijacked by extremists", as fears mounted about clashes between activists and far-right groups.

In London, authorities boarded up several statues, including of World War II leader Winston Churchill, after previous damage and with further demonstrations planned.

Mayor Sadiq Khan said the monuments, as well as the Cenotaph war memorial, were being protected against the risk of "disorder, vandalism and violence".

Statues and monuments to figures involved in Britain's colonial past and the international slave trade have become increasing targets for activists over the last week.

Their targeting has prompted calls for a re-examination of the country's historical legacy.

On Sunday, crowds in southwest England toppled a statue to a local slave trader and philanthropist, Edward Colston, and threw it into the harbour, prompting calls for others to be removed.

But while recognising the "legitimate desire to protest against discrimination", Johnson said in statement issued on Twitter: "We cannot now try to edit or censor our past.

"We cannot pretend to have a different history. The statues in our cities and towns were put up by previous generations.

"They had different perspectives, different understandings of right and wrong. But those statues teach us about our past, with all its faults.

"To tear them down would be to lie about our history, and impoverish the education of generations to come."

The protests were sparked by the death during a US police arrest of George Floyd, an unarmed African-American, which have triggered outrage around the world.

Johnson acknowledged the anger of black and minority ethnic communities and said there had been "huge" strides in tackling discrimination in Britain.

But after clashes marred largely peaceful demonstrations in London, he added: "It is clear that the protests have been sadly hijacked by extremists intent on violence.

"The attacks on the police and indiscriminate acts of violence which we have witnessed over the last week are intolerable and they are abhorrent."

"The only responsible course of action is to stay away from these protests," he said.