Man With Hammer Defaces 'Pedophile' Artist's 'Prospero And Ariel' Statue Outside BBC Headquarters

A man scaled up the front of the BBC's Broadcasting House headquarters in central London on Wednesday, and used a hammer to damage a statue that has been on display since 1933.

British police were called to the scene at around 4:15 p.m. GMT and eventually closed off the area after the incident.

The statue in question was created by Eric Gill, one of the most prominent British sculptors in the early 20-century. The artist's works were shrouded in controversy after his posthumously published diaries revealed records of him sexually abusing his daughter and their family dog, according to The Guardian.

The statue has previously received massive criticism. Activists have spent several years demanding the removal of the statue, which depicts Prospero and a partially nude Ariel from Shakespeare’s play, The Tempest. The statue was installed shortly after the building opened and has been hovering over those entering and exiting the broadcaster’s headquarters for decades.

BBC staff that went to work Wednesday saw the man, armed with a hammer, shout “pedophile” as he struck the statue and tried to chip away at its base. All the while, another man shouted details about the controversial sculptor’s history of pedophilia. The attacker had used a 10-feet ladder to get to the statue.

It took about four hours for the police and fire crew to get the man down, as reported by BBC. A police spokesperson said he was arrested on suspicion of criminal damage and taken into custody.

Katie Razzall, the culture editor for BBC, recalled the incident and said, “When I arrived at work on Wednesday afternoon, a ladder was leaning up against the building and a man stood on the plinth above the doorway, shouting "pedophile" and attacking the statue with a hammer, feet first. He was also trying to detach the 10ft (3m) sculpture from whatever anchors it to the BBC offices. On the pavement, another man live-streamed it.”

The incident took place just a week after four people were cleared of criminal damage after being accused of illegally removing a statue of 17th Century slave trader Edward Colston. The statue was pulled down and thrown into Bristol's harbourside last June during a Black Lives Matter protest.

“At a time when statues across the country are being reassessed, there'll be those who believe that if it's legal to tear down a monument to a prominent slaver, as happened in Bristol, it is also time to do the same to an artwork by a man who committed horrific sexual crimes,” Razzall said. “If that's the case though, where does it end?”