Boris Johnson today blasted ‘absurd and shameful’ attacks on the statue of Sir Winston Churchill and said the UK ‘cannot lie about its history’ as Sadiq Khan was accused of ‘surrendering’ the capital’s streets ‘to the mob’ after he ordered the boarding up of the monument to Britain’s greatest prime minister and the nearby Cenotaph.
In an extraordinary Twitter outburst, Mr Johnson has slammed those who want to topple the Churchill statue and said: ‘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’.
He 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’.
While Mr Johnson didn’t mention Sadiq Khan in his tweets, they were sent after a phalanx of Tory MPs slammed the Mayor of London for boarding up monuments instead of using police officers to form a ring of steel around them and arrest anyone who tries to attack them.
The London Mayor released a statement today saying: ‘We are ensuring that key statues and monuments at risk, including the Cenotaph, Winston Churchill and Nelson Mandela, are covered and protected.’
Amid growing public anger, hill yelagiri chennai Home Secretary Priti Patel has been forced to ‘read the riot act’ to police, ordering them to do more to tackle violent protesters as she pushed for 24-hour fast-track courts like those seen in 2011 riots that swept through urban Britain.
The Prime Minister said the Met Police have made ‘hundreds’ of arrests following attacks on officers, buildings and statues in the past ten days as Scotland Yard vowed to go on ‘the front foot’ to tackle violence directed at officers or property tomorrow following serious disorder at anti-racism protests last weekend.
Commander Bas Javid, whose younger brother, former Chancellor Sajid Javid, has called the boarding of monuments ‘depressing’, said this afternoon: ‘We will learn from what happened last weekend.
It’s accepted that a very, very small minority of people were intent on causing and engaging in violence.
‘We absolutely don’t condone that, violence of any kind, particularly against police officers, particularly against property, and we’ll be ready for that.
Our most valuable tactic is to speak to people, make sure they understand the risks but also what they can do to make sure we have a peaceful demonstration.’ Mr Javid said both Black Lives Matter protesters and right-wing groups will be dealt with using the same tactics.
