Others called online for it to be “thrown in the river” like the statue of slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol.
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Despite the noisy criticisms, a number of people stopped to take selfies.
Police had suggested that a three metre-high plinth and temporary fencing would be needed to protect the statue from “politically minded” vandals.
But less than two hours after it was lowered into place, Webster was pictured throwing eggs at it from behind the fence, with one making contact.
After claiming he had thrown the egg on his Instagram account, he joked that “South Wales miners are heading up to Grantham to remove her head” and described her as a “disgraced animal”.
A spokesman for Lincolnshire Police, whose officers arrived on the scene shortly after the egging, said: “We have received reports of criminal damage to the Margaret Thatcher statue shortly after 10am this morning. No arrests have been made.”
South Kesteven District Council had earlier said the Public Memorials Appeal – which collected £300,000 for the statue through donations from residents and other individuals – would still proceed to an official unveiling ceremony at a later date.
Tory council leader Kelham Cooke insisted “we must never hide from our history” and said the monument was a “fitting tribute to a truly unique political figure”.
“Margaret Thatcher will always be a significant part of Grantham’s heritage.”
The memorial “will be a talking point for generations to come”, he added.
How demonstrators tried to topple two Tory greats
As larger-than-life political figures, statues of Margaret Thatcher and Winston Churchill have often come under attack from vandals and protesters.
In 2002, a separate statue of Lady Thatcher was decapitated by Paul Kelleher, a theatre producer, while it was on display at Guildhall Art Gallery in London.
The decapitated statue of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher at the Guildhall Art Gallery in 2002.Credit:AP
Kelleher was jailed for three months after attacking the statue with a cricket bat and a metal bar.
When her statue was unveiled in the Houses of Parliament in 2007, Lady Thatcher herself remarked that this time “I hope the head will stay on”. The statue of Churchill in Parliament Square has long been a target for demonstrators.
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A student was jailed for 30 days in 2000 for defacing the statue during May Day riots in London, after graffiti was sprayed on the plinth and a turf mohican was added to the statue’s head. Years later, in June 2020, the statue was defaced with the words “was a racist” during a Black Lives Matter protest in the wake of George Floyd’s death.
The same month, in Bristol, four people were arrested after a statue of merchant and transatlantic slave trader Edward Colston was toppled and thrown into the harbour.
Extinction Rebellion’s “hijacking” of the Cenotaph on Armistice Day in November 2020 forced officials to border up the war memorial.
The same year, protesters vandalised a statue of former Conservative prime minister Robert Peel in Glasgow city centre, spray-painting it with a hammer and sickle.
A new Policing Bill passed on April 26 increased the maximum penalty for the criminal damage of a statue from three months to 10 years in jail.
The Telegraph, London
Margaret Thatcher statue egged within hours of being erected in home town
Source: Philippines Alive
