PA mediaThe Secretary of the Interior, Yvette Cooper, has called the vandalism of several statues in Parliament Plaza, including one of the activists of the female votes Dame Millicent Fawcett, “shameful”.
Transgender activists met on Saturday in front of Parliament to protest against the ruling of the Supreme Court that biological sex defines a woman for the purposes of the Equality Law.
Cooper said he welcomed the investigation of the Metropolitan Police and that the Government will strengthen the law “to better respect and protect important monuments.”
The force said that seven statues were damaged and are investigating incidents as criminal damage. The trial has not been made.
PA mediaA statue of former South African prime minister, Jan Smuts, was graphic with the words “Trans rights are human rights.”
“The criminal damage like this, including the statues of men and women who fought for freedom and justice such as Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela and Millicent Fawcett, is shameful: it is correct that the police be investigating,” Cooper said.
“We are strengthening the law to better respect and protect important monuments. Freedom of expression and protest are important in our democracy, but this type of criminal damage is completely unacceptable unacceptable.”
With said that their officers were in the Plaza del Parliamento vigilant of the area “but they did not witness that the criminal damage took place since the area was densely populated by thousands of protesters and was not reported at that time.”
He confirmed that he is investigating graffiti as criminal damage and has asked anyone with information, footage or images that arise.
The Greater London authority plans to eliminate graffiti, but this requires specialized equipment and “we are sure that this will be done shortly,” added the addition.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court ruled that transgender women with a gender recognition certificate can be excluded from single -sex spaces “if it is proportional to do so.”
The judges unanimously ruled that the terms women and sex in the 2010 Equality Law “refer to a biological woman and biological sex” instead of “certified sex.”
The protests against the ruling also took place on Saturday in Reading, Edimburg and Glasgow.
ReutersCH SUTIT Stuart Bell, who directed the police operation for the protest, said: “It is very disappointing to see damage to seven statues and properties in the vicinity of the protest today.
“We support the right of the public to protest, but crime like this is completely unacceptable.”
A spokesman for the Minister of Women and Equality, Bridget Phillipson, who talks about the damage to the statue of Dame Millicent, said that “completely condemns the frightening embezzlement of such an important national monument to the struggle for women’s rights.”
“There is no excuse for this shameful criminal damage.”
Confirmed that he is also dealing with a series of complaints from the public about signs and images shared on social networks shown yesterday in the protest and “the action will be tasks if there are signs that are shown that violation of the law.”
The statue of Dame Millicent of the artist Gillian Weering is the only statue of a woman in Parliament Plaza, where other honest include international states such as Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi, and former Prime Ministers Sir Winng and David-Vroyd-
Presented in 2018, it is also the only statue of a female artist in the square, and was erected after a campaign and request of the feminist activist Caroline Criado Pérez.
