'I tagged the statue of Churchill because he's a confirmed racist': Defiant Black Lives Matter protester says he desecrated the wartime PM's plinth because he fought the Nazis to protect colonialism - NOT for 'people of colour'
The Black Lives Matter protester who claims he 'tagged' the statue of Winston Churchill said he did it because he believes Britain's greatest Prime Minister was a 'confirmed racist' who cared more about colonialism than black people.
The masked young man, who is being searched for by the Metropolitan Police today for the vandalism in Parliament Square, claimed that Mr Churchill only fought the Nazis to protect the empire - not for 'people of colour'.
Using black spray paint yesterday he daubed the phrase 'was racist' below the wartime leader's name, leaving the monument reading: 'Churchill was a racist'. A 'f*** your agenda' was also added on the stone.
After leaving Parliament Square last night he spoke to a BBC reporter and said: 'I tagged up the statue of Churchill because he's a confirmed racist. He fought the Nazis to protect the Commonwealth from invasion - he didn't do it for black people or for people of colour or for people of anything. He did it sheerly for colonialism. People will be angry - but I'm angry that for many years we have been oppressed'.
He added; You can't enslave people, have the largest colonial empire in history and be like 'Yeah let's be peaceful - let's talk'. It don't work like that. We're p***ed off. F**k that'. He also said that people from BAME backgrounds who fought in the Second World War are not properly recognised for their sacrifices.
Critics have flagged the Twitter video to the Met Police to help their investigation - but his supporters have urged the BBC reporter to delete it in case it led detectives to him accusing him of putting the graffiti artist 'at risk'.
It came as a group of volunteers including four Army cadets cleaned up the memorial to Winston Churchill with their own cleaning products in London this morning. One, a warehouse worker called Max, 25, who had just finished a night shift and went to Saturday's protests, also cleaned up, telling MailOnline he went there because it 'just felt like it was the right thing to do.'
A professional cleaner - remarkably called Winston - also turned up to do the job professionally after a group of Tory MPs started scrubbing the plinth before English Heritage officers told them to stop because they 'would end up doing more damage'.
Fears of a second wave of coronavirus were sparked today after thousands of Black Lives Matters protesters defied pleas from the government to not gather in groups and took to the streets across Britain over the weekend.
Professor Keith Neal, an epidemiologist at Nottingham University, told MailOnline the protests are 'not going to help keep transmission down'.
Activists stand around the Churchill statue yesterday after it was daubed in graffiti during the Black Lives Matter protests
A group of young men of remove graffiti from a statue of Winston Churchill at Parliament Square in London this morning
The graffiti artist's supporters have called for the BBC to delete their video of his interview in case it leads police to him
Demonstrators raise their fists in the air after climbing onto the statue in Parliament Square during the Black Lives Matters protest on Sunday
A protester is placed in a spit hood as he is restrained by Police Officers close to Westminster tube station yesterday
A workman takes away the damaged Union flag today from the Cenotaph after a Black Lives Matter protester tried to burn it down during yesterday's demonstrations that turned violent in central London
It came as the clean-up also began in Bristol as council crews removed BLM placards and used chemicals and spray to clean graffit off the plinth from which the statue of slave trader Edward Colston was torn down yesterday.
Speaking to MailOnline today, Max said: 'For me it was a decision I made last night. I worked during a long night shift and I received the news that the statue was being defaced. I just felt like it was the right thing to do.
'It was completely independent, I thought to myself I'd be the only one there. I didn't mean to antagonise or upset anyone to do it. When I got there I was pleased to see four young Army cadets already cleaning the statue.
'I did actually attend the Black Lives Matter protest on Saturday in support of the movement. I feel strongly to show solidarity. I understand the actions that carried on late into last night were that of a minority.
'But I will not have war memorials defaced. The violence and to see the anger and hatred towards the police was very, very hard to watch for me. It came to standing up for what's right.'
Max added: 'We brought our own cleaning products and they weren't really up to the job. We only left because remarkably a gentleman called Winston asked us to stop because he'd been asked to do the job professionally.'
Priti Patel today vowed to bring violent Black Lives Matter protesters to 'justice' for attacking police in London and tearing down the Edward Colston statue in Bristol as Labour MPs backed its destruction - but police officers battling the activists in the streets say their bosses have got their tactics 'completely wrong'.
The Home Secretary said that the UK demonstrations following the murder of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis had been 'subverted by thuggery' and told those responsible: 'Justice will follow'.
She told the Commons this afternoon: 'We strongly support the right to protest peacefully but that does not extend to the violent behaviour that we have witnessed across the country throughout the weekend. And when it comes to any assault on our brave police that is completely unacceptable. Any perpetrator should be in absolutely no doubt that they will be arrested and prosecuted.'
She added: ‘We are privileged to live in an open, democratic country with many values entrenched not just in our constitution but also in a rules-based system.
‘There is no justification for violence at all. And when it comes to exercising people’s voices and obviously their particular issues and concerns there are many avenues through which those voices and concerns can be raised and made at a local council level.
‘Obviously that is the right way to approach these issues.’
Rank-and-file officers left bloodied by attacks with sticks and rocks have today accused their bosses of allowing 'lawlessness' to take hold because of public perception instead of allowing them to deal with the attackers 'more robustly'.
In Bristol there have been no arrests at all in relation to the destruction of Colston's statue despite 17 suspects being identified and Avon and Somerset Police have said they have 'no regrets' about not stopping it being pulled down and thrown in the city's harbour.
Labour's shadow justice secretary David Lammy has compared those who toppled the monument to followers of Martin Luther King and the suffragettes - but said it 'should have come down a long time ago in a democratic way'.
He told ITV's Good Morning Britain: 'I'm quite sure that those young people who brought that statue down knew that they would be facing the law but that was a price they were willing to pay and there are many examples throughout history, from Martin Luther King to Harvey Milk, who protested on behalf of gay rights. Many, many men and women following these people and being prepared to break the law because they believed the issue of justice they wanted to shine a light on was a bigger project'.
Since last Wednesday 49 officers in London have been injured but there have only been around 60 arrests - and Ken Marsh, chief of the Met Police Federation, has asked Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick to apologise to her officers and said: 'Let me be clear, we as a police service can deal with these outbreaks of disorder, no problems. But it seems we are more concerned about image and perception rather than protecting our brave police officers and maintaining order.
'It's sadly now clear – and frankly has been clear for a number of days - that some people are using these protests as an excuse to attack police officers. We have had enough warnings. The tactics being used by the Metropolitan Police are very wrong. And need to be looked at as a matter of urgency.'
In Bristol yesterday a group armed with ropes and tools dragged down the statue of slave trader Edward Colston in a 'premeditated' act of criminal damage and were then allowed to roll it to the city's dock and hurl it into the water.
Superintendent Andy Bennett, who was in charge in the city yesterday, said he had 'no regrets' about not intervening as activists dragged the statue down - but conceded that officers were 'duty-bound' to investigate. He said: 'As a police officer, I don't get to choose which laws I uphold and which I don't. We are duty-bound to investigate this. We know and have identified 17 main offenders in terms of tearing it down and an investigation is underway.'
Avon and Somerset Police chief constable Andy Marsh backed the decision and said that had his officers intervened to arrest those responsible there would have been a 'very violent confrontation'.
'To arrest suspects would likely to lead to injuries to suspects, injuries to officers, and people who were not involved in damaging property being thrown into a very violent confrontation with the police that could have had serious ramifications for the city of Bristol and beyond,' Mr Marsh said.
'Can you imagine scenes of police in Bristol fighting with protesters who were damaging the statue of a man who is reputed to have gathered much of his fortune through the slave trade?
'I think there would have been very serious implications and whilst I certainly do not condone crime or damage of any sort, I fully support the actions of my officers.
'They responded with common sense, sound judgment and in the best interest of public safety.'
A council employee later turned up to clean graffiti from the statue of Winston Churchill at Parliament Square this morning
The volunteers brought their own cleaning products as they tried to remove graffiti from the Churchill statue today
A protester is pulled away as peaceful demonstrations in the capital turn violent in the wake of the death of George Floyd in the U.S.
As the protests descended into chaos, one protester (left and right) was seen climbing on the historic monument The Cenotaph and setting fire to the Union Jack flag
Protesters throw statue of Edward Colston into Bristol harbour during a Black Lives Matter protest rally yesterday
The chairman of the Police Federation, which represents all officers in England and Wales, has criticised Avon and Somerset Police for its decision not to intervene in a protest in Bristol where a statue of a slave trader was torn down.
John Apter told BBC Breakfast: 'To have no police presence there I think sent quite a negative message. I am a police officer so I don't support this lawlessness we saw where this statue was ripped down and rolled down the street and pushed into the river because that is not how we do things'.
Max, 25, (above) a warehouse worker who attended the BLM protests on Saturday, said he felt compelled to clean the graffiti from Churchill's statue this morning
In London 22 officers were injured over the weekend on top of 13 last week after being pelted with objects on Whitehall. One activist clambered onto The Cenotaph, the war monument dedicated to the millions of lives lost during the First World War, and set fire to the Union Jack flag, while another gang defaced the monument to Winston Churchill in Westminster and daubed 'was a racist' on its plinth.
Police officers were shown being chased down streets and across bridges by protesters throwing bottles and rocks. One Met Police riot unit tackling the violence tweeted a picture of a boulder thrown at them last night and said: 'No it's not an asteroid. It's one of the many things we had thrown at us last night between Parliament Square and Elephant and Castle. Multiple officers injured from our line alone. Unacceptable'.
Yesterday, one activist even scaled the huge statue to stick a 'Black Lives Matter' placard to the wartime leader's torso. Home Secretary Priti Patel had branded those who had defaced the monument 'repulsive criminals'.
She said: 'Winston Churchill is one of the greatest Britons who ever lived. We have him to thank for our very freedom to protest. The vandals who did this are repulsive criminals who I want to see brought to justice.'
Under the Churchill status yesterday, a protester had stuck a sign laying out why they believed he was a racist, saying he called the Indians a 'beastly' people and supported the use of poison gas against 'uncivilised tribes'.
Some protestors posed for photos in front of the defaced statue and a group of activists took a knee around it in Parliament Square. Four uniformed police stood nearby as the crowd took photographs.
Banners with messages such as 'British Colonialism is to Blame' and 'What if it was your son?' had been left at the base of the column. A white man later stripped away the banners and walked away as the crowd shouted at him.
The area has become a key gathering place for activists demanding racial justice and opposing the Government. The £30,000 statue was unveiled by his widow Clementine in 1973 and created by Ivor Roberts-Jones.
Protesters hold placards at the Churchill statue during the Black Lives Matter protest rally in Parliament Square yesterday
It is not the first time it has been defaced. In 2000, it was sprayed with red paint to give the appearance of blood dripping from its mouth, while during the 2010 student protests it was defaced and urinated on.
It comes after the Prime Minister said the anti-racism demonstrations had been 'subverted by thuggery' after protesters tore down a statue of a slave trader in Bristol and clashed with police in the capital.
Scotland Yard said 12 people were arrested and eight officers injured in London yesterday, while in Bristol protesters toppled the bronze memorial to slave trader Edward Colston and dumped it into the harbour.
Black Lives Matter demonstrations were carried out peacefully for much of yesterday in London, but there were clashes with police on Whitehall, with bottles thrown at officers in one incident near the Cenotaph.
Most of yesterday's arrests related to public order offences, while one was for criminal damage following an incident at the Cenotaph. Scotland Yard said 29 people were arrested and 14 officers were injured on Saturday.
Police officers stand in a line next to protesters during a Black Lives Matter protest rally in Westminster today
Police clash with Black Lives Matter protesters during the demonstration in Westminster yesterday
Police clash with protesters during the Black Lives Matter protest rally in Westminster yesterday
'I tagged the statue of Churchill because he's a confirmed racist': Defiant Black Lives Matter protester says he desecrated the wartime PM's plinth because he fought the Nazis to protect colonialism - NOT for 'people of colour'
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June 10, 2020
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