Andy Banks, 28, of Stansted, Essex, UK claimed he had attended the protests to ‘protect statues’.
However, Banks erupted in anger after he was pictured urinating beside the memorial of Keith Palmer, a police officer who died during the 2017 Westminster terror attack.
PC Keith Palmer was one of the five people who killed by terrorist Khalid Masood on March 22, 2017. Palmer was awarded a posthumous George Medal in honor of the bravery he demonstrated when confronting Masood.
Speaking in response to the picture, Metropolitan Police Commander Bas Javid said that they are aware of the abhorrent image circulating in social media.
“I feel for PC Palmer’s family, friends, and colleagues. We have immediately launched an investigation and will gather all the evidence available to us and take appropriate action,” Javid said.
On Sunday, June 14, Banks was charged with outraging public decency by officers after having turned himself in, according to BBC News.
Banks appeared before Westminster Magistrates’ Court on June 15 where he admitted to the offense, he was jailed for two weeks by magistrates.
According to Prosecutor Michael Mallon, Banks had been in central London to ‘protect statues’, but he had confessed that he did not know which statues he was there to protect.
Apparently, Banks had drunk 16 pints during the night of Friday, June 12, and into the morning of Saturday, June 13, and had not slept since.
Banks counsel Stuart Harris has said he is ‘ashamed by his actions’, and that he had been suffering from mental health issues.
MP Tobias Ellwood, who operated first aid to PC Palmer as he lay dying, was one of the many people to criticize Banks’s behavior,
Elwood tweeted: “Absolute shame on this man. Of all the images to emerge over these few testing days, I find this one of most abhorrent.”
Big groups moved across London over the course of the weekend, with far-right activists in the crowds. There are people seen giving Nazi salutes by the covered statue of Sir Winston Churchill.
There were reported confrontations with police in riot gear. Six police officers suffered minor injuries during these incidents.