#Winston Churchill statues could become target in London protests: mayor

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Members of the far-right Football Lads Alliance hold a British flag in front of a protective covering surrounding the statue of Winston Churchill in London’s Parliament Square.
Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP

Statues of World War II leader Winston Churchill could become a dangerous flashpoint in planned demonstrations, London officials said Saturday, warning people to avoid the city center.

Some statues of the former Prime Minister were boarded up in preparation for the protests, Reuters reported.

“We have intelligence that extreme far right groups are coming to London ostensibly, they say, to protect the statues, but we think the statues may be a flashpoint for violence,” London’s mayor Sadiq Khan told BBC Radio.

Last week, demonstrators in Parliament Square chanted “Churchill was a racist” during a Black Lives Matter protest, according to The Independent.

“Yes, he sometimes expressed opinions that were and are unacceptable to us today, but he was a hero, and he fully deserves his memorial,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Reuters.

The Churchill statue outside Parliament was defaced with graffiti last week during otherwise mainly peaceful demonstrations over the death of George Floyd, who died after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

Khan also said people risk contracting the coronavirus by joining the expected crowds.

Johnson called the targeting of Churchill statues “absurd and shameful” and Churchill’s granddaughter Emma Soames said she was saddened that he had become a controversial figure after being a symbolism of heroism and unity for so long.