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Man Arrested for Vandalizing Churchill Statue in London with Palestinian Messages

Friday, February 27, 2026 at 8:33 AM

A 38-year-old man was taken into custody after spray-painting pro-Palestinian messages on Winston Churchill's statue in central London. The suspect allegedly wrote phrases including "Zionist war criminal" and "Free Palestine" in red paint on the bronze monument.

LONDON — Metropolitan Police officers apprehended a vandal in the act Friday as he spray-painted pro-Palestinian messages across the Winston Churchill monument in downtown London.

Authorities arrested the 38-year-old man on charges of racially motivated criminal damage after he allegedly scrawled “Zionist war criminal” in red paint on the base of the 12-foot bronze figure of the former British Prime Minister, which stands opposite Big Ben and Parliament, according to police officials.

Additional messages reading “Stop the Genocide” and “Free Palestine” were also found painted in red across the sculpture.

A Dutch organization known as “Free the Filton 24” took credit for the vandalism. The group’s name references Palestine Action protesters who face charges for infiltrating facilities belonging to Elbit, an Israeli defense contractor operating in Britain.

Following standard protocol for uncharged individuals, police have not released the suspect’s identity, though they confirmed he remains in detention.

Olax Outis, identifying himself as a Dutch member of the activist organization, stepped forward as the person responsible through a series of pre-recorded Instagram messages.

“If you see this message that peaceful protest has begun and it’s a reasonable assumption that I’m currently in a jail, somewhere in London,” he wrote.

Outis criticized both Churchill and Britain’s current leadership, stating he aimed to bring “attention to the horrible human rights violations happening in a country that’s run by colonizers who refuse to listen to their people.”

The monument, crafted by sculptor Ivor Roberts-Jones and dedicated in 1973, has been targeted by vandals multiple times. In 2020, Black Lives Matter demonstrators spray-painted “racist” on the statue, and climate activists from Extinction Rebellion did the same this past October.

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