UK: Sculpture by controversial artist attacked with hammer

LONDON (AP) — British police have cordoned off an area outside the BBC’s Broadcasting House in central London after a man was spotted scaling the building and using a hammer to attack a statue by controversial sculptor Eric Gill. Officers and ambulance workers attended the scene after receiving reports that a man used a ladder to reach the 10-foot-tall sculpture above the building’s front entrance. The sculpture, installed in the 1930s, was created by Gill, a prominent British artist who died in 1940. His diaries, which were published decades after his death, revealed that he sexually abused his daughters and the family dog. The sculpture had previously drawn criticism and activist groups have demanded its removal.