Pro-Palestinian protesters target painting of Lord Balfour at Trinity College, Cambridge

Politicians have condemned the “senseless act of vandalism” after pro-Palestinian campaigners damaged a portrait of Lord Balfour.

Action for Palestine shared a video on social media of a protester defacing and cutting up the historical painting hanging at Trinity College, Cambridge.

In the video, a woman can be seen spraying red paint before using a sharp object to cut into the canvas.

Lord Arthur James Balfour was Conservative Prime Minister from 1902 to 1905.He later became foreign secretary and signed The Balfour Declaration of 1917.

The statement was a public statement by the British government, which considered it “in favor of establishing a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine.”

Some blame the letter for setting in motion what would eventually lead to Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Action for Palestine said the declaration “paved the way for the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people”.

The protest group took aim at the ongoing war in Gaza, claiming Britain’s “support for the continued colonization of Palestine has never wavered since 1917”.

The painting “Lord Balfour” was created by the artist Philip Alexius de Laszlo and completed in 1914.

Politicians were quick to condemn the stunt.

Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden said he was “shocked by the senselessness of the wanton destruction”.

He added in a post on X: “The perpetrators should face the full force of the law.”

A spokesman for Cambridge Police said: “This afternoon we received an online report that a painting at Trinity College, Cambridge, had been criminally damaged.

“Officers are at the scene obtaining evidence and progressing their investigations.

“No arrests have been made at this stage.”

In its own statement, Trinity College said it “regrets the damage caused to the portrait of Arthur James Balfour during public hours”.

The college added: “Police have been notified.

“Support is available to any member of the college community who is affected.”

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