A bronze statue of Winston Churchill near the Houses of Parliament in London was vandalized with graffiti reading “Stop the Genicide” and “Free Palestine” as well as “Never Again is Now” and “Globalise the Intifada.”
As reported by the BBC, a 38-year-old man named Caspar San Giorgio was arrested after the incident on Friday and charged with criminal damage. In court he pleaded not guilty and claimed his name was Olax Outis, after which prosecutors informed the court of the different name on his passport.
A report in The Art Newspaper connected the vandalism to a claim that it was conducted by a Dutch activist group called Free the Filton 24 NL. In a spoken statement posted on Instagram with transcribed text, Olax Outis said, “I’ve defaced a monumental statue honouring a murder-horny bigoted wanker to draw attention to the horrible human rights violations happening in a country that’s run by colonisers who refuse to listen to their people, who waste tax payers’ money to repress the population, who, according to the UN, are in violation of the Genocide convention.”
He continued: “The current British government should be dragged before the International Court of Justice in The Hague, and as a representative of The Hague, I’m here to hold them accountable.”
In response to the painted messages on the Churchill statue, which was unveiled in 1973 by the former prime minister’s widow Clementine Churchill, a spokesperson for the UK’s Home Office said, “Sir Winston Churchill is a figure of great national pride. The vile vandals defacing this statue are a disgrace.”
As noted by TAN, the arrest by police claiming “suspicion of racially aggravated criminal damage” follows an announcement by two British police forces in December that people chanting “globalize the intifada” would be arrested.
