Man armed with hammer attacks statue at BBC headquarters in London

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A man after he climbed onto the statues Prospero and Ariel from Shakespeare's play The Tempest by the sculptor Eric Gill outside of the BBC's headquarters
A man climbs onto the statues Prospero and Ariel from Shakespeare's play The Tempest by the sculptor Eric Gill

A man armed with a hammer has attacked a statue outside the BBC’s Broadcasting House in central London.

Police were called to Portland Street after a man used a ladder to reach the figures above a front door.

Officers taped off the entrance to the building and paramedics were called to the scene.

"Officers attended and remain on scene attempting to engage with the man," the Met Police said in a statement.

"Another man has been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit criminal damage," the statement added.

The sculpture, depicting Prospero and Ariel from Shakespeare’s play The Tempest, was installed in 1933, according to the BBC.

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.

Officers were called at around 4.15pm on Wednesday to Broadcasting House on Portland Street

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.