Single statue streaker stops central London (PHOTOS)

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Published time: November 23, 2012 19:56
Edited time: November 24, 2012 00:00

An unidentified man sits naked on top of the statue of Prince George, Duke of Cambridge outside the Ministry of Defence building in Whitehall in central London on November 23, 2012 (AFP Photo / Justin Tallis)

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Health, Police, Transport, UK

A naked man atop a bronze monument brought central London to a standstill for three hours, as police feared the statue straddler might pose a security risk.

Around midday on Friday, an inconspicuous man in his thirties or forties climbed up the statue of Prince George, the Victorian-era commander-in-chief of the British Army, located outside Whitehall, which houses the UK government and Ministry of Defence.

The man then braved temperature of 6 degrees Celsius to immediately take off all of his clothes.

He then struck a series of provocative poses, including climbing on top of the feathered bicorne worn by the distinguished general.

A response team of two fire trucks, four police cars, and four mounted policemen was immediately assembled.

Police blocked off the area within 100 meters of the statue, paralyzing traffic and forcing government employees to enter their buildings through alternative routes.

For three hours professional negotiators urged the man to climb down, until he eventually agreed.

As he dismounted, the climber appeared to break off a piece of the statue before waving it around triumphantly.

He was then detained under the Mental Health Act.

(AFP Photo / Justin Tallis)

Comments (9)

Olivers Army 24.11.2012 19:34

Those Femen girls can protest all they want and I will listen to their concerns over and over again but some scrawny bloke.... No thanks!

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Q (unregistered) 24.11.2012 08:44

> "He was then detained under the Mental Health Act."

Imagine this happened in Russia... Western media would have been full of articles about "Putin's attacks on the freedom of expression", "shocking violations of human rights by Russian dictator", "KGB isolates peaceful protesters in the menthal hospitals", "billions of dissidents tortured by Stalin's psychiatrists", "new rise of political repressions in Putin's Russia", "1937 is back". And most of the naive and brainwashed western people would have believed this the same way as they believe in western interpretation of the pRiots story and anything else about USSR and Russia...

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Timothy Merritt (unregistered) 24.11.2012 04:48

Depends on where in the US. I'm in Delaware. The cops would have been amused. Asked him his name, drank coffee, argued about who was going to have to hand cuff him, and asked him if he was cold yet. If it took a while, someone would have carried him down or tazered him, after asking if that was what he wanted. Some areas also use tranquilizers. He might have fallen and hurt himself, but they'd have had a cup of coffee before going after him.

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