'Protest Santa' removed from top of statue

A man dressed as Santa has been removed from the top of Glasgow's Duke of Wellington statue. A crowd gathered to watch on Monday as a worker using a cherry-picker brought the festively dressed man down from the top of the monument.





The protester, Ricky McConnell, 52, carried out the same stunt in December of last year in a campaign over access to his child. He was given a fixed-penalty ticket for his antics last year but did not face police action this time around as officers did not have to call firefighters to rescue him.





Instead, the cherry-picker and worker which helped him onto the statue were also used to take him down. The Duke of Wellington statue, where he staged his protest, is famous for the prized traffic cone on the top of the Duke's head. Speaking after the stunt, Ricky said: "The important thing today was about awareness.


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"This was a gift from Santa to let children know we are still thinking about them and fighting the system that has abused them. I hired the cherry-picker to get me on to the statue. The crowd loved it. Everyone had a smile on their face. I was waving to the kids. It was a fun day."