Churchill statue and war memorial boarded up in London due to vandalism

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has condemned violent demonstrators in London after a statue of wartime leader Winston Churchill was vandalized.

As a consequence of that vandalism – Churchill’s name was crossed out and “is a racist” was scrawled underneath it – the statue has been completely boarded up.

The Cenotaph, which is the country’s main memorial to the war dead, was also desecrated by protesters (one of whom attempted to set its Union Flag on fire) and has likewise been boarded up for protection.

London's mayor, Sadiq Khan, said a statue of Nelson Mandela would also be protected.

Johnson said it is now “clear that the protests have been sadly hijacked by extremists intent on violence.”

The statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square is a permanent reminder of his achievement in saving this country – and the whole of Europe – from a fascist and racist tyranny. 1/8

— Boris Johnson #StayAlert (@BorisJohnson) June 12, 2020

“The attacks on the police and indiscriminate acts of violence which we have witnessed over the last week are intolerable and they are abhorrent,” he tweeted.

Discussing Churchill, Johnson added: “It is absurd and shameful that this national monument should today be at risk of attack by violent protestors.

“Yes, he sometimes expressed opinions that were and are unacceptable to us today, but he was a hero, and he fully deserves his memorial.”

He said that, while the people represented by statues across Britain “had different perspectives” and “different understandings of right and wrong,” it is important that they remain.

So depressing. pic.twitter.com/z3jbY7iVC3

— Sajid Javid (@sajidjavid) June 12, 2020

“Those statues teach us about our past, with all its faults,” he explained. “To tear them down would be to lie about our history, and impoverish the education of generations to come.”

“We cannot now try to edit or censor our past. We cannot pretend to have a different history. The statues in our cities and towns were put up by previous generations.”

Statues across the country have been removed, either legally or by mobs, in recent days in response to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis last month.

The BBC, meanwhile, has taken down a popular TV show – Little Britain – from its streaming service over concerns it does not conform to today’s moral norms.