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  "path": "/politics/zack-polanski-winston-churchill-statue-london",
  "publishedAt": "2026-03-06T06:34:44.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.gbnews.com",
  "tags": [
    "Winston Churchill statue restored to former glory after being defaced with pro-Gaza graffiti",
    "Sadiq Khan's Oxford Street car ban could see cyclists blocked by anti-terror bollards",
    "Cash-strapped council illegally created six LTNs to pocket millions of pounds from motorists",
    "The GB News Editorial Charter"
  ],
  "textContent": "\n\n\nZack Polanski has refused to condemn the \"appalling desecration\" of the Winston Churchill statue in Westminster.\n\nThe Green Party leader voted against a motion to censure the graffiti during a session of the London Assembly on Thursday.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nThe motion, introduced by the Conservatives, read: \"This assembly wishes to condemn, in the strongest possible terms, the appalling desecration of the statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square.\"\n\nIt went on to state that the assembly condemns the language graffitied on the statue of the wartime Prime Minister.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nTRENDING\n\nStories\n\nVideos\n\nYour Say\n\nThe monument had been sprayed with orange paint alongside phrases including \"Zionist war criminal\", \"stop the genocide\", \"free Palestine\", and \"globalise the Intifada\".\n\nMr Polanski’s fellow Green Party members in the London Assembly, Zoe Garbett and Caroline Russell, also voted against the motion.\n\n\"Non-violent direct action has always been a legitimate and necessary part of democratic political life,\" Ms Garbett said.\n\nThe 12-foot-tall sculpture has since undergone restoration after the vandalism, with specialists using blowtorches and paint brushes to remove the damage.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nCaspar San Giorgio, 38, has been arrested and charged with criminal damage, which he denies.\n\nConservatives also introduced a separate motion welcoming the \"removal\" of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei after the now-deceased Iranian supreme leader was killed in an Israeli airstrike.\n\nThe motion stated that Iranian citizens now had their \"strongest chance in decades\" to escape from a \"brutal regime\".\n\nThe three Green members of the London Assembly also voted against the measure, a move Conservative assembly member Emma Best branded a disgrace.\n\n### LATEST IN LONDON\n\n\n\n\n  * Winston Churchill statue restored to former glory after being defaced with pro-Gaza graffiti\n  * Sadiq Khan's Oxford Street car ban could see cyclists blocked by anti-terror bollards\n  * Cash-strapped council illegally created six LTNs to pocket millions of pounds from motorists\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nShe said: \"The supreme leader and his regime terrorised the people of Iran and its enemies across the world.\n\n\"It is not controversial to join Iranians, here and abroad, in welcoming the end of that regime.\n\n\"It is sinister that the principles of the Green Party leadership can so easily sway from what is morally right.\"\n\nDutch group Free the Filton 24 claimed responsibility for the action, posting a video on Instagram that appeared to show the incident in progress.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nA spokesman for the Greater London Authority said: \"We are appalled by this vandalism to the statue of Sir Winston Churchill and work is under way to remove the graffiti as quickly as possible.\"\n\nA Downing Street spokesman said at the time that the vandalism was \"obviously a disgrace\" and \"abhorrent\".\n\nThe spokesman added: \"This Government will always stand up for our values, and the perpetrator must be held to account.\n\n\"We’re glad the police have made an arrest.\"\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n**Our Standards:The GB News Editorial Charter**\n",
  "title": "Zack Polanski refuses to condemn 'appalling desecration' of Winston Churchill statue"
}