Man charged over graffiti on Sir Winston Churchill statue in Parliament Square

A man has been charged after a statue of Sir Winston Churchill was defaced with graffiti.

Words including “Zionist war criminal”, “Stop the Genocide” and “Free Palestine” were sprayed in red paint on the bronze statue in Parliament Square in Westminster in the early hours of Friday.

Caspar San Giorgio, 38, of no fixed address, was arrested shortly after 4am on Friday, police said.

He was taken into custody and charged at 3.50am today.

He was remanded and is due to appear at Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court later this morning.

San Giorgio was also arrested on suspicion of supporting Palestine Action, which is a proscribed organisation, under the Terrorism Act. the Metropolitan Police said on Friday.

The statue was cordoned off and work to clean it began on Friday.

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

A No 10 spokesman called the vandalism “a disgrace” and “completely abhorrent”, while a spokesperson for the Greater London Authority said it was “appalled” and confirmed work had begun “to remove the graffiti as quickly as possible”.

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