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Kesteven District Council are set to approve plans for a £100,000 event to unveil a monument of the late Prime Minister in Grantham town centre, Lincolnshire. A council report said the event will be used to showcase “inspirational women of South Kesteven” as well as promote tourism in the East Midlands.

The £300,000 bronze statue of the Iron Lady, funded by the public Memorials Appeal, will be erected at a later date on a 10ft-high plinth.

The entire sculpture, created by Douglas Jennings, will stand at over 20ft tall, but the huge scale has not escaped the attention of more than a thousand people who have vowed to attend an event targetting the statue.

A Facebook page dedicated to throwing eggs at the statue, hauling it down and tarnishing it with graffiti, has since attracted more than 8,000 people, with more than 1,100 others stating they will attend.

A post promoting the event says: “Boys and girls and me non binarys, we out here holding contest for egg throwing, lassos throwing, and potentially graffiti art.

“Where are we doing this you might ask, well the in the wonderful city of Grantham, and we have a special target being made currently, a beautiful statue of the Iron Lady, now it’s a family friendly event so please be respectful and pick up ya litter.

“Not sure on the unveiling of the statue but will change the date accordingly.”

Brexiteer Darren Grimes has since condemned the group in a post on Twitter.

The political commentator wrote: “Since the hateful Left like it so much, we ought to replace every single statue that they tear down with a replica of this bronze statue of Lady Thatcher on a 10ft-high plinth.”

A number of users took to Facebook and lashed out at the potential protest despite holding contrasting political views to the former Tory leader.

Sue Barnes said: “I think it is very sad that folk have such hatred. Politics aside, this was the first female Prime Minister.”

Andrew Rudd said: “Not my choice of a suitable way to spend public funds, and I detested her in all ways due to the way she ran the country.

“However as the first female PM and of Grantham I can see that a statue can be justified.”

A spokesman for South Kesteven District Council said: “The cost of the statue was funded by The Public Memorials Appeal and further money to support the project was raised by the Grantham Community Heritage Association.

“In the long-term, the statue is expected to attract more tourists to the area, providing a boost to the local economy.

“Our expectation is that the full event costs will be met through public and business fund-raising and donations, although there is a need to allocate funding to underwrite the event.”

This is not the first time a statue of a controversial historical figure has been targeted this year.

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Earlier this summer in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, protestors began tearing down monuments around the UK – starting with the statue of 17th-century slave trader Edward Colston.

The statue in Bristol was hauled down by activists and thrown into a nearby river on June 7.

Demonstrators also targeted a statue of Cecil Rhodes at the University of Oxford and took part in a “Rhodes Must Fall” protest against the Victorian imperialist.

In London’s Parliament Square, a statue of former Prime Minister and war hero Winston Churchill was also sprayed with graffiti and forced to be boarded-up for several days.

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