The statue of the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom laid eggs and booed within hours of being built in her hometown on Sunday.
Less than two hours after the 20-foot-high statue of Margaret Thatcher was unloaded on a 10-foot-high granite pedestal in Grantham, Lincolnshire, protesters surrounded the monument with a temporary fence. I threw an egg from behind.
An egg hit the statue before I heard the cry of “Hey”.
Egg debris and shell debris were seen in the lower half of the statue.
A man in a white T-shirt was seen holding an egg carton in one hand and preparing to throw an egg from the other.
Lincolnshire police said the military received reports of criminal damage to the statue after 10 am on Sunday.
Police appeared on the scene within minutes of the incident. “No arrests have been made,” a spokeswoman said. “The investigation is still underway.”
Many stopped by the statue to take a selfie, but I heard the driver booing loudly past the statue of Grantham.
One man shouted, “Break it,” and another said, “This isn’t good for Grantham, isn’t it?”
The £ 300,000 ($ 368,000) statue lies between two existing statues, Sir Isaac Newton and Frederick Tollemache, in the town’s civic district.
In February 2019, the Planning Committee of the South Kesteven District Council voted in favor of Thatcher’s statue, which was originally targeted at the Houses of Parliament Square in Westminster, London.
Documents submitted to the council (pdf) Before the vote, he said the statue could be “likely to be the target of politically motivated destroyers.”
The document recommends placing the statue on a “high enough pedestal” that is difficult to climb in order to avoid blasphemy and damage and to be subject to “appropriate” CCTV surveillance and lighting.
After the large £ 100,000 ($ 122,000) unveiling ceremony was approved by the council in 2020, the Facebook group, which proposes an “egg throwing contest” at the event, attracted more than 13,000 people.
About 2,400 people visited the Facebook page and said they would go to an event that included “throwing eggs … and potentially graffiti art.”
Before the statue was given a building permit, the only sign of Thatcher in town was a plaque on the corner of the North Parade and Broad Street to indicate where she was born.
Kelham Cook, leader of the South Kesteven District Council, states that the statue “inspires, educates, and informs people about the people who represent an important part of Grantham’s heritage.”
“This memorial to the late Kesteven Baroness Thatcher will be a good tribute to a truly unique politician,” Cook said.
“Margaret Thatcher has always been an important part of Grantham’s heritage. She and her family are closely related to Grantham. She was born and raised here and attended school,” he added.
“Therefore, it is appropriate for her to be commemorated by her hometown and for discussions surrounding her heritage to take place here in Grantham.
“We must never hide from history. This monument will be an issue for future generations,” Cook said.
A council spokesman said on Sunday that the public memorial appeal that funded the monument through donations will host an official unveiling ceremony at a later date.
PA Media contributed to this report.
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Lily Zhou is a freelance writer who mainly covers the British news of The Epoch Times.