," he added.
The Metropolitan Police said inquiries were ongoing and no arrests had yet been made after they were called to a report of criminal damage at 17:10 BST on Tuesday.
Selassie lived in Wimbledon in 1936 during his exile following the Italian invasion of his country. The statue was sculpted by Hilda Seligman, while he stayed with her family, and later erected in Cannizaro Park.
I never knew that Haile Selassie – "King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Conquering Lion of the tribe of Judah, Jah Rastafari" – lived in Wimbledon. It wasn't something that featured in those Rasta reggae chants back in the day, alongside the call-outs to Marcus Garvey, the Black Star Liners, Babylonian captivity and all the rest. No pilgrimages to sunny South London suburbia, mingling with the tennis crowds, to pay homage. Nor will we see much of a reaction now, I imagine. Old Rastas – the few that survive – don't deal with that kind of shit.
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