Winston Churchill statue vandalized in London (Image/X@BROKENBRITAIN0)
A 38-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of defacing a statue of Sir Winston Churchill in Parliament Square in Westminster. Police said he was also being investigated over his alleged links to activist group Palestinian Action, the first such arrest since the Supreme Court ruled that the government’s ban on the group was illegal.The bronze statue of the former prime minister was painted with red graffiti describing Churchill as a “Zionist war criminal,” along with phrases including “Stop genocide” and “Free Palestine.” In the early hours of Friday, additional slogans appeared reading “This will never happen again now” and “Globalize the uprising.”A Metropolitan Police spokesman said officers arrived at the scene within two minutes of the incident.
Cleaners were seen removing graffiti on Friday morning. The suspect was initially arrested on suspicion of criminal damage of a racial nature, according to the BBC. A representative for 10 Downing Street described the attack as “absolutely abhorrent”, adding: “Churchill was a great Britain. This government will always stand up for our values and the perpetrator must be held to account.”
An Interior Ministry spokesman echoed these sentiments, calling the vandals a “disgrace.”
The spokesman added: “Sir Winston Churchill is a figure of great national pride. The vile vandals who deface this statue are a disgrace.” The Dutch group Free the Filton 24 claimed responsibility, posting a video on Instagram showing a man defacing the statue. The group describes itself as associates of Palestinian Action activists who were previously accused of storming a UK site of Israeli defense company Elbit in 2024, according to the BBC. The statue of Churchill, created by Ivor Roberts-Jones and unveiled by Lady Churchill in 1973, has been vandalized several times in the past, including during Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 and an Extinction Rebellion climate demonstration later that year. It stands among 12 statues in Parliament Square, commemorating figures such as Abraham Lincoln and Nelson Mandela.
