Deletion files/folders with retention labels in a specific SharePoint Online site

Andrew_Woo 

I would guess that Files within the Folder have had Retention Labels applied at some point, and thus the Folder effectively inherits the retention policy. Files that have been deleted are sent to the Preservation Hold Library, and normally are not viewable by users. The deleted items are held for the period of retention, then silently deleted (or otherwise depending on the retention settings applied). You may find if you trawl thru your SP Recycle Bin there will be items with retention applied that have not been permanently deleted. You could try restoring these items, then removing, or changing to a label that does not include retention, before deleting (folder can now be deleted).

All: We need to delete some legacy Retention Labels that were applied to items scattered across our tenant. We expected to be able to delete the Policy and Label(s) from the Compliance Centre, resulting in the labels disappearing from any applied items. Is this still the case? MS documentation now states that Retention Labels cannot be deleted after being applied to items? https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/compliance/file-plan-manager?view=o365-worldwide#delete-retention-labels 
We have approx 500 items to de-label, so would like to manage centrally via the admin centres if possible.