Actor-turned-politician Laurence Fox scaled a monument near the Houses of Parliament to remove a Palestinian flag placed there during Saturday’s rally in central London.
The visibly angry Reclaim Party leader, who unsuccessfully ran for mayor of London in 2020, then bellowed: “Get your s*** off my statues” in a clip he later shared on social media.
An estimated 100,000 people took part in the demonstration, organised by the Palestine Justice Campaign, which coincided with other similar events around the country.
In total, 11 people were arrested for various public order offences, including two for assaulting police officers, but it was the targeting of Thomas Thorneycroft’s Boadicea and Her Daughters, located at the end of Westminster Bridge, which particularly enraged Fox.
The brief clip shows Fox on top of the monument, which was erected in 1092, removing the flag, tied around Boudicea’s spear, plus various placards, one in Arabic.
A woman’s voice can be heard shouting: “You’re breaking the law leaving them up there” in remarks likely to be directed to those responsible for placing the paraphernelia on the statue.
As Fox flings the Palestine flag to the ground, she shouts: “Well done.”
Fox, who was formerly married to Billie Piper, is a vocal campaigner against political “wokeness” who has courted controversy on multiple occasions in recent years.
In September was fired by GB News after remarks made about journalist Ava Evans.
Earlier this month he was arrested on suspicion of conspiring to commit criminal damage to Ulez cameras and encouraging or assisting offences to be committed.
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley yesterday called for greater clarity from the Government on policing extremism as he faces criticism over the handling of pro-Palestinian protests.
Sir Mark said about 100 people had been arrested at demonstrations held since the Hamas attack on Israel three weeks ago, with “many more” arrests expected in the near future.
However, he admitted his officers were limited by legal definitions of extremism and arresting people without cause could risk “inflaming” the situation with the protesters.
Sir Mark said he would support a review into the legal definition of extremism and how it should be policed.
He told Trevor Phillips On Sunday on Sky News: “There is scope to be much sharper in how we deal with extremism within this country.
“The law was never designed to deal with extremism, there’s a lot to do with terrorism and hate crime but we don’t have a body of law that deals with extremism, and that is creating a gap.”
Sir Mark revealed there has been a 14-fold increase in antisemitic incidents since the crisis started three weeks ago, and a three-fold increase in crimes against the Muslim community.
