The large bronze statue of British hero and wartime Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill in Parliament Square has again been defaced, this time by ‘pro-Palestine’ attackers.
Winston Churchill’s statue outside Britain’s Houses of Parliament, the national legislature his personality dominated for 40 years as a member, government minister, and two-time Prime Minister has been vandalised overnight. The statue and plinth was painted with messages in red, including “Zionist war criminal”, “free Palestine”, “stop the genocide”, “globalise the Intifada”, and “never again is now”.
A fourth side was tagged in Dutch, with messages including “Groeten uit Den Haag” [‘Greetings from the Hague’], and “Káp Nâh” [‘cut it out’ rendered phonetically for the distinctive “lower-class Hague accent”].
UPDATE 1300 — Police Make Arrest
Metropolitan Police say they have made an arrest. Their statement related:
Overnight, the Winston Churchill statue in Parliament Square was graffitied with red paint.
Officers were on scene within two minutes of being alerted shortly after 4am.
A 38-yr-old man is in custody having been arrested on suspicion of racially aggravated criminal damage.
The BBC now reports Dutch pro-Palestine activist group ‘Free the Filton 24’ has claimed responsibility for the vandalism. The group’s name refers to a group of prisoners taken by the British government after a Palestine direct action group raided a defence factory belonging to Elbit Systems UK in Filton, Bristol.
There is no indication yet of whether the arrested male is British or a Dutch migrant.
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LONDON, ENGLAND – FEBRUARY 27: The Churchill statue in Parliament square is vandalised in the early hours of the morning with red paint and pro-Palestine slogans including “Zionist war criminal”, “Stop the Genocide”, “Never again is Now”, “Globalise the Intifada”, and what appears to be “Greetings from the Hague” in Dutch on February 27, 2026 in London, England. (Photo by Guy Smallman/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – FEBRUARY 27: Westminster heritage wardens begin the task of covering graffiti with tape and plastic bin bags after the Churchill statue in Parliament square was vandalised in the early hours of the morning with red paint and pro-Palestine slogans including “Zionist war criminal”, “Stop the Genocide”, “Never again is Now”, “Globalise the Intifada”, and what appears to be “Greetings from the Hague” in Dutch on February 27, 2026 in London, England. (Photo by Guy Smallman/Getty Images)
After the vandalism was discovered, Westminster Council employees wrapped the statue in black plastic. Later, a crew of heritage cleaning professionals started to remove the paint.
Last year, London’s Metropolitan Police stated that in the wake of the Australia Bondi Beach and England Synagogue antisemitic attacks, use of the phrase “globalise the Intifada” in public protests would trigger arrest because “Violent acts have taken place, the context has changed – words have meaning and consequence. We will act decisively and make arrests.”
The Metropolitan Police has not yet made a statement on the vandalism nor given any update on arrests.
Sir Winston Churchill’s statue has become a frequent target for protests in recent years, to the extent that it has even spent a period in 2020 completely covered up, entombed in a box similar to the protection given to statues in the Second World War from bomb blasts. The phrase “Churchill was a racist” has been painted on his statue at least twice, once by hard-left green group Extinction Rebellion and another by Black Lives Matter.
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