Soldiers Heckled While Cleaning Graffiti From London Military Statue

A video has emerged on social media showing soldiers being confronted as they attempted to remove graffiti from a military statue in London.

The soldiers, who are members of the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment, had been on duty in nearby Horseguards on Wednesday evening when they noticed the graffiti on the Earl Haig Memorial.

They volunteered to clean it up and the video shows the soldiers trying to wipe off red paint from the plinth at the base of the monument while being challenged by onlookers.

An Army source said: "The incident took place at 8.30pm on Wednesday night.

"The soldiers were in the area working at Horseguards, where they had been on duty.

"The soldiers noticed the graffiti and volunteered to clean it up.

"They asked for permission from the guard commander, which was given, and were told to return if there was any trouble.

"There were no threats violence, and nobody was injured in incident."

Forces News has chosen not to share the video.

Earlier that day, central London had seen thousands of people join a protest over the death of George Floyd in US police custody.

The Earl Haig Memorial depicts the First World War officer riding on horseback and has been on Whitehall site since 1937.

Members of the Household Cavalry are known to take particular care of two statues on Whitehall.

On Christmas Day each year, a regimental tradition exists where the soldiers on duty 'bed down' the statues with hay from their near-by stables, so it appears the horses have been bedded down to rest.

The Household Cavalry has conducted public duties at Horse Guards daily since the mid-18th century.

It is made up of troopers from two regiments: The Life Guards and The Blues and Royals.