London mayoral candidate arrested after damage caused to Guardian offices

A London mayoral candidate has been arrested after The Guardian’s offices were sprayed with pink paint, her party has said.

A video posted online by political party Burning Pink shows a man in a three-piece suit using a fire extinguisher to spray the glass exterior of the building in King’s Cross with paint on Friday.

Valerie Brown, who is standing for the party in the London mayoral election, was arrested for conspiracy to commit criminal damage on Saturday morning, it said.

A Burning Pink statement read: “At 5.30am Valerie was arrested and is being held at Islington station on conspiracy charges.”

A party spokesman confirmed it was related to the incident at The Guardian’s offices on Friday.

The Metropolitan Police said: “A woman in her 60s was arrested at an address in Islington on Saturday, May 8 on suspicion of conspiracy to commit criminal damage at an address in York Way, N1 on Friday, May 7.

“She has been taken into custody.”

The party claimed the stunt aimed to hold the newspaper to account for its “utter failure to report on London mayoral candidate Valerie Brown” and for “breaking their climate pledge”.

A Guardian News & Media spokesperson said: “We can confirm there was an incident at our offices yesterday which was dealt with professionally by our security team.

“None of our staff were involved.”

Ramon Salgado-Tuzon, 55, has been charged with criminal damage, the Metropolitan Police said.

He is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on June 4.