A war memorial is currently being 'guarded by police' this evening after being vandalised with 'free Palestine graffiti'. The cenotaph, at the Esplanade in Rochdale, was first stripped of its poppies over the weekend before Palestinian flags were put there.
And today, graffiti reading 'free Palestine' was sprayed onto the memorial, which Rochdale Council have called a 'totally unacceptable' act that is now being investigated. READ MORE Tragedy on M6 as man who 'fell from bridge' dies after being hit by HGV READ MORE Moment man is knocked out on dance floor in troubled bar where staff stamped on customer's head and punter had his ear bitten off The memorial is currently being guarded by Police Community Support Officers this evening, as well as an increase in local police patrols following the spate of incidents. This is a live incident.
Updates to follow. A spokesperson for Rochdale Borough Council said: "On the afternoon of Tuesday 7 November graffiti was sprayed on the Cenotaph.
This is totally unacceptable and is also being investigated by police. The graffiti will be removed as soon as we are able to. "As we said in our initial response – we are proud of our strong links with our armed forces community.