Police have launched an urgent investigation after as many as seven statues were vandalised during today’s mass trans protests in London.
Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of the capital today for an “emergency demonstration” against the Supreme Court ruling that the definition of a woman is based on biological sex.
Images from Parliament Square showed the phrase “f*g rights” and a heart were daubed on a statue of suffragette Millicent Fawcett – while “trans rights are human rights” was sprayed on the pedestal of a bronze of ex-South African Prime Minister Jan Christian Smuts.
Further pictures showed protesters hauling a trans flag over a figure of former PM Benjamin Disraeli.
(Right to left) Benjamin Disraeli, Mahatma Gandhi, Jan Smuts, Millicent Fawcett and Nelson Mandela statues during the protests today
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Now, the Metropolitan Police has confirmed that a total of seven statues were targeted in a “completely unacceptable” series of vandalistic attacks.
No arrests have been made, but officers are investigating, Scotland Yard said.
Police added that its officers were in Parliament Square at the time – but did not witness the incidents.
The Met’s Chief Superintendent Stuart Bell, who was leading the policing operation for the protest, said: “It is very disappointing to see damage to seven statues and property in the vicinity of the protest today.
LATEST AFTER THE SUPREME COURT VERDICT:
The Met’s Chief Superintendent Stuart Bell (pictured in 2024) called the vandalism ‘completely unacceptable’
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Union, LGBT, trans and Palestine flags were all seen in Parliament Square on Saturday
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“We support the public’s right to protest but criminality like this is completely unacceptable.
“We are now investigating this criminal damage and urge anyone with any information to come forward.”
Parliament Square is home to 12 statues of political figures, including Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln and Mahatma Gandhi.
It remains unclear which of the seven aside from Fawcett and Smuts were targeted – but the Met has said it is working with local authorities responsible for cleaning the statues, and has requested the slogans are removed “as soon as possible”.
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This is not the first time that protesters have daubed slogans on Parliament Square’s historic statues.
In 2020, activists labelled war hero Prime Minister Winston Churchill a “racist” on multiple occasions – the first, by Black Lives Matter protesters, and the second by climate demonstrators.
Climate activist Benjamin Clark, then 18, admitted causing £1,642.03 worth of damage to the Churchill bronze in 2020, and was given a £200 fine and told to pay £1,200 in compensation as a result.
While after the BLM vandalism, Churchill’s granddaughter Emma Soames told the BBC it was “extraordinarily sad that my grandfather, who was such a unifying figure in this country, appears to have become a sort of icon through being controversial”.
