A pro-Palestine activist who spray-painted slogans including "Zionist war criminal" on the statue of Sir Winston Churchill in Parliament Square has been cleared of criminal damage by a jury. Olax Outis, also known as Caspar San Giorgi, 39, a Dutch national, had argued he did not believe he had committed a crime because he was using the statue to send a political message to Parliament, and disputed that the washable paint had caused any real damage to the monument.

San Giorgi, who had been accused of causing more than £7,000 of damage, scaled the statue shortly before 4am on 27 February carrying paint cans and a ladder, wearing a red boiler suit reading "I support Palestine Action". He daubed messages including "Stop the Genocide", "Free Palestine", "Never Again Is Now" and a Dutch phrase referencing The Hague, telling jurors he wished to see former prime minister Sir Keir Starmer tried there over Britain's stance on Gaza. He was spotted by a Greater London Authority heritage warden, with police arriving within two minutes, and said afterwards he was part of a Netherlands-based pro-Palestine group linked to activists held over an alleged break-in at an Elbit Systems defence site near Bristol.