A 38-year-old man has been arrested after the statue of Winston Churchill outside the Houses of Parliament was sprayed with graffiti, including the phrases 'Zionist war criminal', 'stop the genocide', and 'free Palestine'. The Metropolitan Police said the man was detained on suspicion of racially aggravated criminal damage shortly after 4am on Friday 27 February.
Officers arrived within two minutes of the incident being reported. The graffiti also included 'never again is now' and 'globalise the intifada'. The suspect remains in custody. Last December, both the Met and Greater Manchester Police said chanting 'globalise the intifada' could lead to arrest, following terror attacks in Australia and Manchester.
The statue has been cordoned off and cleaning began on Friday morning. A Greater London Authority spokesperson expressed appal at the vandalism, stating work is under way to remove the graffiti. A No 10 spokesperson called it 'a disgrace' and 'completely abhorrent', adding that Churchill was a great Briton and the perpetrator must be held to account.
The bronze statue, unveiled in 1973 by Churchill's wife Clementine, has been vandalised multiple times before, including during Black Lives Matter protests in June 2020 and by an Extinction Rebellion activist in October 2020.
