Villagers throw eggs at Vladimir Putin statue in Worcestershire to fundraise for Ukraine

The statue of the Russian President in Worcestershire
A statue of Vladimir Putin - with a penis-shaped head - has been erected in Bell End Credit: PA

A penis-headed statue of Vladimir Putin has been erected in the Worcestershire village of Bell End to commemorate him as the area's "Bellend of the Year” in protest against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The effigy appeared on Thursday (15th December) morning alongside a street sign in the centre of the village.

Eggs have been left near the statue of the Russian President.

Members of the public were offered the opportunity to throw eggs at the statue Credit: Handout/PA

The organiser of the protest, who wished to remain anonymous, said:

'I needed to award somebody with the ... award and I thought there was one person who has universally been a bellend this year – and that’s Vladimir Putin.

'You could just throw eggs at the statue, which people did so willingly and quite happily.

'It’s been very well received. One person said, ‘I thought it was my boss for a second’.

The organiser of the statue said it ‘does what it says on the tin’ Credit: Handout/PA

The coordinator said they plan to create and sell miniatures of the statue to raise money for a charity supporting Ukrainian refugees.

They added: “I’ve seen over the course of the year the devastation that has happened in Ukraine and that so many lives that have been displaced as a result of the war.

“So I thought, ‘I really want to help out and I want to do my bit and I want to try and raise some money to help those individuals’.”

Miniatures of the statue will be sold to raise money for Ukrainian refugees Credit: Handout/PA

The organiser said they want to stay anonymous to keep the “mystique” around the statue.

Explaining how it came to be in the village just outside Birmingham, they said:

“I don’t know what the material is but I gave to a couple of artists and they cut it out over two or three weeks.

“Then we painted it and made a plinth, which obviously had the sign Bellend of the Year just to make sure there was absolutely no way to deny what he actually was.

“The message is pretty simple – it’s exactly what it says on the tin.”

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