Hammer-wielding activist scales BBC’s Broadcasting House and starts destroying Eric Gill sculpture
Man scales BBC Broadcasting House and starts destroying sculpture by paedophile artist Eric Gill – as police stand by doing NOTHING days after BLM activists were cleared for toppling Colston statue
Known paedophile Eric Gill’s statue Prospero And Ariel stands in front of BBC’s Broadcasting House in LondonGill’s diaries, published in the 1980s, revealed he molested his two daughters and his dog during his lifetimeCampaigners have long called for the statue’s removal from its prominent position but the BBC have refusedThe incident tonight is ongoing with the police saying they are trying to engage with hammer wielding activistThe Met Police say another man is currently in custody on suspicion of conspiracy to commit criminal damage
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A protester has been spotted using a hammer to attack a controversial statue created by known paedophile Eric Gill on the outside of the BBC’s Broadcasting House in central London.
The statute – Prospero and Ariel – was made by artist Eric Gill and campaigners have long asked for it to be removed after it was revealed that Gill sexually abused his two eldest daughters.
His 1932 statue, which is inspired by Shakespeare’s play The Tempest, occupies a prominent position at the entrance to the BBC’s Broadcasting House in Portland Place, London.
Photos show the man, wearing a Reservoir Dogs t-shirt, hammering away at the statue, removing large parts of stone from it while police say they continue to try and engage with him.
The incident comes a week after a jury cleared four people of criminal damage despite the fact they pulled down the statue of slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol.
Police look on as activist attempts to damage a statue by Eric Gill on BBC Broadcasting House
Officers cordon off the area as the activist is seen attempting to damage the statue
At one point this evening, the man said the statue should have been taken down in the past.
‘If this happened decades ago, I wouldn’t be here would I?’ he told the negotiators.
The Metropolitan Police said officers were called at around 4.15pm to Broadcasting House in Portland Street, Westminster, where a man had used a ladder to reach the 10ft tall figures above the front entrance.
Officers have cordoned off the entrance to the building, and London Ambulance Service paramedics have also arrived at the scene.
The man appears to have used a ladder to access the 10ft statue and hit it with a hammer
Pieces of broken plaster are seen on the ground after the protester damaged the statue
A spokesperson for the Met said: ‘Officers attended and remain on scene attempting to engage with the man.
‘Another man has been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit criminal damage.
‘Enquiries are ongoing.’
The sculpture, depicting Prospero and Ariel from Shakespeare’s play The Tempest, was installed in 1933, according to the BBC.
A biography on the Tate museum website said: ‘His religious views and subject matter contrast with his sexual behaviour, including his erotic art, and (as mentioned in his own diaries) his extramarital affairs and sexual abuse of his daughters, sisters and dog.’
Nearly 2,500 people have previously signed a petition demanding the removal of the sculpture on the website of political activist group 38 Degrees.
A spokeswoman for the BBC declined to comment.
The incident came a week after a jury cleared four people of criminal damage after they pulled down the statue of slave trader Edward Colston.
The bronze memorial to the 17th century figure was pulled down during a Black Lives Matter protest in Bristol on June 7 2020, before being rolled into the water, and those responsible were acquitted on January 5 following an 11-day trial at the Old Bailey.
Video from the scene today showed that a cordon was put in place outside the entrance of Broadcasting House and police officers stood on guard as the man, who appeared to have used a ladder to reach the 10ft statue, began hammering away at it.
Owen King, 52, who works in marketing, was cycling past when he saw the man chipping away at the statue.
He said: ‘I saw all the police and I presumed he was protesting about Eric Gill and his background. Then the fire brigade were here as well. People are just wondering, ‘why don’t they take him off the sculpture?’
‘So I think they’re just waiting for him to come down. He’s got this tiny little hammer and he’s bashing away at the leg there. Not much is coming off and he seems to be resting a lot.’
He added: ‘Someone shouted to him, “get off it, you ugly person, an ugly person desecrating a beautiful thing”. And he shouted “you paedo”. And then everyone was laughing at him. I think you (should) separate art from the person.’
Responding to the man’s comments calling people paedophiles, he added: ‘I think it’s really reductive.’
Moments later one woman, who was walking past the scene, shouted: ‘Art should be separated from the person. You should spend your energy and time with something else. Art can be beautiful by itself.’
Pictured at work: Eric Gill chiselling the statue in 1933, when his abuse was still secret
Pictured: A protester defaces a statue by sculptor Eric Gill with the words ‘Noose All Peados’
Pieces of stone on the floor after a man climbed onto the statues Prospero and Ariel from Shakespeare’s play The Tempest by the sculptor Eric Gill outside of the BBC’s headquarters
Meanwhile, another man live-streamed the incident on social media before police intervened and it is understood he has since been arrested.
Pieces of plaster could be seen on the ground after they had been chipped off the controversial statue.
Eric Gill was one of the most respected artists of the 20th century when he died in 1940.
However his diaries, published in 1989, revealed that he regularly abused his daughters Betty and Petra, as well as the family dog.
Sexual abuse survivors charities have long called for the statue’s removal, especially since the Jimmy Savile scandal emerged after his death.
Gill’s other famous works include The Creation of Adam, three bas-reliefs in stone for the League of Nations building in Geneva, from 1938 and the Gill Sans and Perpetua typeface, which he created in the late 1920s.
The BBC was contacted for comment but has previously said there are no plans to remove the statue.
The corporation has, in the past, described the statue ‘as a metaphor for broadcasting, executed by one of the last century’s major British artists whose work has been widely displayed in leading UK museums and galleries’.
Gill, who was born in 1882 in Brighton, Sussex, converted to Catholicism in 1913. He was then invited to design theStations Of The Cross in Westminster Cathedral.
The Catholic Church has also rejected calls to dismantle the work.
