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London police said on Saturday a man had been charged with criminal damage for graffitiing a statue of Britain\u2019s World War II prime minister Winston Churchill with pro-Palestinian slogans.<\/p>\n
The monument in the central Parliament Square was smeared with red paint early on Friday and \u201cZionist war criminal\u201d among the slogans written on it.<\/p>\n
The Metropolitan Police said Caspar San Giorgio, 38, of no fixed address, was charged early on Saturday, some 24 hours after his arrest.<\/p>\n
He had been detained within minutes of officers being alerted to the incident, according to the force.<\/p>\n
He was due to appear at a London magistrates\u2019 court later on Saturday.<\/p>\n
The words \u201cfree Palestine\u201d and \u201cstop the genocide\u201d were also sprayed on the statue, which workers cleaned off on Friday.<\/p>\n
The incident prompted Prime Minister Keir Starmer\u2019s office to call the damage \u201ccompletely abhorrent\u201d and commend police for the swift arrest.<\/p>\n
\u201cChurchill was a great Briton,\u201d a spokesman said.<\/p>\n
The 3.6 metre Churchill statue has been vandalised a number of times in recent years, including during Black Lives Matter and Extinction Rebellion climate demonstrations in 2020.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n