Climbing the Winston Churchill monument in Parliament Square in London has become a crime. From now on, violators will face a fine of £1,000 for desecrating the monument to the former Prime Minister and even imprisonment for up to three months. This is reported by UNN with reference to Independent.
Details
The publication notes that the government is expected to announce this decision officially today. It will become part of a movement under which climbing on certain military memorials in Great Britain is equated to a criminal offense.
For desecration of the monument to the former Prime Minister, offenders may face up to three months in prison and a fine of £1,000
And although the Winston Churchill monument is not classified as one of the military memorials of Great Britain, Home Secretary Ivett Cooper plans to add it to the list of statues and monuments that will be prohibited to climb.
The new law, contained in the flagship bill on crime and police, is currently being considered in Parliament. Among other monuments on which climbing will be prohibited are the Cenotaph in Whitehall, the Royal Artillery Memorial in Hyde Park and other monuments dedicated to the armed forces throughout the country.
As the country unites to celebrate Victory in Europe Day, it will be entirely fair that we ensure that the statue of Winston Churchill, like other sacred military memorials throughout our country, is treated with the respect it deserves
The country's Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, supported the new policy.
Sir Winston Churchill stands at the top of our country's most outstanding heroes and has been an inspiration to every Prime Minister who has come after him. The justified anger caused by people using his statue as a platform for their protests is evidence of the deep and unwavering love that all decent Britons feel for Sir Winston. It is the least we owe him and the rest of the greatest generation - to make these actions criminal
Let's add
The 4.5-meter statue of the leader of the Second World War was opened on Westminster Square in 1973 by his widow Clementine, eight years after her husband's death. The ceremony was attended by Queen Elizabeth II and the Queen Mother.
It is known that Churchill personally chose the location where he wanted the statue to be erected, when the reconstruction of Parliament Square was approved in the 1950s.
Over the years, the statue has been a target for demonstrators. During the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, the statue was painted with graffiti.
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