A man arrested after Sir Winston Churchill’s statue was defaced in Parliament Square has now been further arrested on suspicion of supporting Palestine Action even after the High Court ruled the government acted unlawfully in banning the group as a terrorist organisation.
Metropolitan Police said officers were called shortly after 04:00hrs on Friday 27 February to reports of graffiti being sprayed on the bronze statue in Westminster. Phrases including “Zionist war criminal”, “Stop the Genocide”, “Free Palestine”, “Never again is Now” and “Globalise the Intifada” were painted in red.
A 38-year-old man was initially arrested on suspicion of racially aggravated criminal damage. In an updated statement, the Met said: “The man arrested earlier has been further arrested on suspicion of supporting Palestine Action which is a proscribed organisation under the Terrorism Act. He remains in custody.”
The development comes as Britain’s High Court ruled that the government’s decision to outlaw Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation was unlawful. Judges Dame Victoria Sharp, Mr Justice Jonathan Swift and Mrs Justice Karen Steyn said “the nature and scale of Palestine Action’s activities” did not meet the “level, scale and persistence” required to justify proscription.
The judges said they were “satisfied that the decision to proscribe Palestine Action was disproportionate”. However, the court kept the ban in place pending a further hearing while the government prepares an appeal.
The government had banned Palestine Action after activists broke into a Royal Air Force base in June in protest at British military support for Israel’s offensive against Hamas in Gaza.
A spokesperson for 10 Downing Street described the defacing of the Churchill statue as “completely abhorrent”, adding that the perpetrator must be held to account. The Home Office said Sir Winston Churchill is “a figure of great national pride” and condemned the vandalism.
The statue has been cordoned off and cleaned as investigations continue.