The Churchill statue in Parliament Square, London, has been vandalised overnight. Pictures show the bronze statue of the former British Prime Minister, unveiled just metres away from the Houses of Parliament in 1973, being defaced with red paint and graffiti in the early hours of Friday, February 27.

Pictures emerging on Friday morning show pro-Palestine slogans painted on the plinth of the statue as well as on the bronze depiction of Winston Churchill. Some of the graffiti read “Zionist war criminal”, “Stop the Genocide”, “Never again is Now”, “Globalise the Intifada”, and what appears to be “Greetings from the Hague” in Dutch.

As the pictures of the defaced statue started to circulate online, social media users were quick to react in anger. One X user wrote: “What a disgrace to the memory of the greatest Briton!”

Another one commented: “This place is heading down a very dark hole.” According to an eye witness, the area has been cordoned off and is being cleaned at the moment.

Matt Vickers, deputy chair of the Conservative Party, told GB News in reaction to the incident: “Its disgusting and vile. Whoever is doing this needs to be held to account. When we were in office we brought forward legislation to help tackle this. This is an attack on democracy, this is an attack on this country, its culture and its history.”

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Several users also questioned the security in the area. One of the users wrote: “How is it that the vandals did this and were not stopped and arrested immediately outside of the seat of government? Is there no security in this area? If there isn’t, somebody needs to be sacked.”

Another commented: “The Churchill statue gets defaced again and again but somehow it’s never observed despite being in the middle of central London. Again and again.”

David Spencer, Head of Crime and Justice, Policy Exchange said: “This latest episode of vandalism in what should be one of the most protected public spaces in London once again raises questions about the Metropolitan Police’s willingness and capability to deal with this type of criminality. Policy Exchange has previously published landmark studies on these issues which set a road map for resolving this – if the police are not willing to raise their game here then Government and Parliament must step in to mandate police action.”

The Express has reached out to Met Police for a comment.