❓WHAT HAPPENED: A statue of Sir Winston Churchill in Parliament Square was defaced with graffiti branding him a “Zionist war criminal” alongside other phrases such as “Globalise the Intifada!” and “Free Palestine”.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: A 38-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of racially aggravated criminal damage. The Dutch group Free the Filton 24 claimed responsibility for the act.
📍WHEN & WHERE: The incident occurred in the early hours of Friday, February 27, at Parliament Square in Westminster, central London.
💬KEY QUOTE: “This is a disgraceful desecration of the statue of Britain’s greatest wartime leader,” said Zia Yusuf, for Nigel Farage’s Reform Party.
🎯IMPACT: The statue’s vandalization, seemingly by a foreign national, underlines the growing disregard for Britain’s heritage in its increasingly hyper-diverse capital city.
Early on Friday morning, the statue of wartime Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill in London’s Parliament Square was vandalized with graffiti phrases including “Zionist War Criminal”, “Globalise the Intifada”, and “Free Palestine.” The Metropolitan Police arrested a 38-year-old man on suspicion of racially aggravated criminal damage shortly after the incident was reported at 4:00 AM.
Officers arrived at the scene within two minutes. The statue was subsequently cordoned off and cleaned later that morning. A Dutch group called Free the Filton 24 claimed responsibility, posting a video on Instagram that appeared to show a man identified as Olax Outis defacing the statue.
This is not the first time the wartime prime minister’s statue has been targeted. During the Black Lives Matter disorder in 2020, it was regularly vandalized by agitators, often with accusations of racism. Other statues in Parliament Square were also targeted, including one depicting Abraham Lincoln.
The 12-foot monument, created by Ivor Roberts-Jones and unveiled in 1973 by Lady Churchill, is one of 12 statues in Parliament Square. It commemorates Churchill’s leadership during World War II and serves as a symbol of British history and values—which are being treated with increasing disregard in London, a hyper-diverse city where only an estimated 36.8 percent of the population is White British.
Winston Churchill’s statue in London, defaced with “Zionist war criminal” and “Globalise the Intifada.”
The author, a Palestine Action supporter, arrested. pic.twitter.com/qex1sUPJ6G
— Combat Antisemitism Movement (@CombatASemitism) February 27, 2026
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