People who clamber over the garden without “a good reason” would face up to three months in prison and a fine of up to £1,000
Climbing on Hyde Park Holocaust Memorial Garden to become a crime (Image: Jacob Phillips)
Climbing over Hyde Park’s Holocaust Memorial Garden is set to become a crime, after a monument was covered up while a demonstration took place nearby.
Peers in the House of Lords agreed to add the London garden, comprising boulders and birch trees, to a draft list of memorials where ministers have proposed a ban on climbing, as part of the Crime and Policing Bill. People who clamber over the garden without “a good reason” would face up to three months in prison and a fine of up to £1,000.
It will be listed alongside the The Cenotaph in Whitehall, Birmingham’s Hall of Memory, the Liverpool Cenotaph, The Response in Newcastle and the Portsmouth Naval War Memorial. Climbing on the statue of wartime prime minister Sir Winston Churchill outside the Houses of Parliament, which was last month daubed with the words “Free Palestine” and “Never Again is Now”, would also become a crime.
Built in 1983, the Holocaust Memorial Garden stone is marked with the words: “For these I weep. Streams of tears flow from my eyes because of the destruction of my people.”
Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay, who proposed including the Holocaust Memorial Garden in the Bill, said that “sadly, that had to be covered in tarpaulin as recently as April 2024”, pointing to a fear it could have been vandalised in an anti-Semitic attack.
Several newspapers at the time published a picture of the boulder covered by a blue tarpaulin. Lord Parkinson, a Conservative peer, said “many other memorials” were worthy of additional protection from climbing.
They included the Monument to the Women of World War II in Whitehall, unveiled on the 60th anniversary of the end of the war in 2005, which peers also agreed to add to the list on Monday.
Lord Katz, speaking for the Government, said both monuments were “culturally significant” and indicated ministers supported Lord Parkinson’s proposal.
He added: “The Holocaust Memorial Garden in Hyde Park is, of course, designed to be enjoyed as a garden and people are free to walk within it.
“I’ve given consideration to the practical issue of whether the police will be able to enforce this offence.
“The intention of the offence is to capture the act of climbing and I’m confident it will not capture walking on an installation such as the Holocaust Memorial Garden.
“Further, there are, of course, other memorials listed in (the Bill) which have steps which may be sat on by members of the public, such as the Royal Artillery Memorial in Hyde Park.
“I am content that in enforcing this offence, police officers will use their discretion to consider whether an offence is committed.”
Lord Katz said the Bill “intentionally sets out a clear and fixed list of memorials, which provides certainty for the public, policing and the courts”.
He warned that including any listed or scheduled memorial risked “undermining the clarity and consistency that the measure is intended to achieve”.
The Government has also amended its Bill to ban protests outside homes where public office-holders, including MPs, peers, members of the Senedd and the mayor of London, live.
Several properties are exempt from the ban, including 10, 11 and 12 Downing Street, the Palace of Westminster, the Prime Minister’s country retreat Chequers in Buckinghamshire, and the Foreign Secretary’s country retreat at Chevening House, Kent.
Lord Katz said “harassment and intimidation must never be accepted as a part of a public office-holder’s role”.
He also said: “It is perfectly legitimate for campaigners during election time to door knock and to speak to their local public office-holders about a different political opinion.
“Where this crosses the line is when these people choose to protest against the public office-holder at their home.”
The Bill faces further scrutiny before it can become law.
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