Man, 38, arrested after Churchill statue defaced with 'Zionist war criminal'

The statue of Sir Winston Churchill in Parliament Square in Westminster was defaced overnight with "Zionist war criminal" and other graffiti.

A 38-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of racially aggravated criminal damage.

Officers from the Metropolitan Police were alerted shortly after 4am on Friday morning.

Other phrases including "Stop the Genocide" and "Free Palestine" were sprayed in red paint on the bronze sculpture.

Further graffiti read "Never again is Now" and "Globalise the Intifada".

The statue has been cordoned off and was being cleaned this morning.

Commenting on the image, which was shared on X, Dave Rich, director of policy for Community Security Trust, posted: "Free Palestine" and a Hamas red triangle, if you zoom in close enough. This extremism is never just a threat to Jews."

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The 12ft-tall statue on the north-east corner of the square, created by Ivor Roberts-Jones, was unveiled in 1973 by the former prime minister's wife, Lady Clementine Churchill.

It is one of 12 statues on or around Parliament Square, most of well-known statesmen such as Nelson Mandela and Abraham Lincoln.

The former prime minister's statue has been vandalised several times over the years, including during demonstrations.

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Last December both the Metropolitan Police and Greater Manchester Police announced anyone chanting "globalise the intifada" would face arrest.

The decision by the two police forces came in the wake of the Bondi Beach terror attack, and the terror attack at Heaton Park synagogue in Manchester on 2 October.