Naked man on statue brought chaos to central London and closed Whitehall

Part of Whitehall, central London, was cordoned off after a naked man climbed a statue. Police said the man was clothed when he climbed the statue of Prince George, Duke of Cambridge, yesterday lunchtime.



About 100m of Whitehall, near Trafalgar Square, was closed off. The man came down voluntarily nearly three hours later. Crowds of onlookers gathered at either end of the cordon during the incident.



US tourist Lydia Kassa, 23, saw the man on the statue while sightseeing. "I just laughed," she said. "It's an experience. We didn't expect to see a naked man." David Lee, a civil servant who works nearby, said: "It's amazing that someone can cause this much disruption. Perhaps the cold finally got to him, or the wind finally got to him."


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Scotland Yard said the man had been detained under the Mental Health Act. A force spokesman said: "You apply the appropriate amount of policing for the situation. Obviously in a situation like this, public safety is paramount."