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A man has been charged with criminal damage after spraying graffiti on the statue of Sir Winston Churchill located in Parliament Square, according to police reports. Caspar San Giorgio, aged 38 and without a fixed address, was apprehended just after 4 a.m. on Friday. He was subsequently held in custody and formally charged just before 4 a.m. on Saturday. The Metropolitan Police have confirmed that San Giorgio remains in custody and is scheduled to appear before Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court.
The graffiti found on the statue early Friday morning featured messages such as “Never again is Now,” “Free Palestine,” and “Globalise the Intifada.” Authorities have taken a firm stance against the use of phrases like “globalise the intifada”; both the Metropolitan Police and Greater Manchester Police warned in December that individuals using this slogan would face arrest.
Officials have condemned the vandalism strongly. A spokesman from 10 Downing Street described the graffiti as “completely abhorrent” and emphasized that “the perpetrator must be held to account.” Similarly, a representative from the Home Office referred to Sir Winston Churchill as “a figure of great national pride,” denouncing those responsible for defacing the statue as “vile vandals” and “a disgrace.”
The statue of Churchill, standing 12 feet tall and created by sculptor Ivor Roberts-Jones, has been the target of vandalism multiple times before. It was initially unveiled in 1973 by Lady Churchill, the wartime leader’s widow. Past incidents include defacement during a Black Lives Matter protest in June 2020, when graffiti accusing Churchill of racism was scrawled on the monument. Later that year, an environmental activist linked to Extinction Rebellion was fined over £1,500 for painting the word “racist” on the statue’s plinth during a climate demonstration
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