Churchill statue boarded up for protection ahead of BLM protests in London

A statue of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill opposite parliament and the Cenotaph war memorial in central London were boarded up for protection before three days of demonstrations planned in the capital.

The World War II leader’s statue on Parliament Square was sprayed with graffiti declaring Churchill a racist during a fractious end to a mostly peaceful demonstration on Sunday over the death of African American George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Boarding has also been placed around the foot of the Cenotaph on Whitehall, where the government and royal family attend Remembrance Sunday events each year commemorating those killed in World War I and conflicts since then.