A statue of King George V was beheaded and vandalized in Melbourne on the king’s birthday holiday.
Police were called to the statue of 72-year-old King George at Kings Domain on Linlithgow Avenue after it was found damaged at around 9am on Monday.
Images circulating on social media showed vandals cutting off the statue’s head before spray-painting the words: “The colony will fall.”
The video has since been removed.
A Victoria Police spokeswoman said the incident was being investigated.
A statue of King George has been decapitated and vandalized in Melbourne on the king’s birthday holiday.
Video footage circulating on social media shows vandals cutting off the statue’s head before spray-painting the words “the colony will fall.”
“It appears they have taken the head off the statue and thrown red paint on the monument,” he told Daily Mail Australia.
Victoria, and most other states in Australia, celebrated a public holiday on Monday to mark King Charles’ birthday.
Other statues have been targeted by vandals this year, including a statue of Captain James Cook that was severed at the ankles before being toppled at Fitzroy Gardens in Melbourne on February 27.
Another Captain Cook statue on St Kilda’s Jacka Boulevard was also hacked at the ankles the day before Australia Day.
That same day, a statue of Queen Victoria in Queen Victoria Gardens near the city was covered in red paint and graffiti.
A second monument to Captain Cook in Edinburgh Gardens in Fitzroy was found broken and covered in graffiti over the Australia Day long weekend.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.