This video shows a man being arrested after the Lee Rigby memorial was destroyed.

Members of the public spotted a lone man ripping up flowers and smashing plant pots at the site before Met Police officers surrounded and handcuffed the suspect.

Poppy wreaths laid in remembrance of the fallen soldier at the memorial tree were also ripped off and tossed onto the green space at 1pm on Sunday (28/7).



Witnesses say other flowers were also destroyed and the memorial space was defaced before police officers swarmed the scene in Woolwich.

The tree is just metres away from where Lee was murdered by extremists in May 2013 at the age of just 25.

Local Connor Tuxford, 31, spotted a man being escorted into a waiting police van before cleaning up the site himself.

The warehouse operative said: "I went to pull out my phone as he was sitting on the floor with his legs crossed. "

"He was clearly waiting for someone to notice him, for the attention. "

"I was just walking back from work and I saw this guy ripping up all the flowers and smashing some jars. "

"I went and cleaned up the memorial afterwards because no one else did. "

"I didn't think much or anything of it but they started clapping me as I was doing it."

Connor said officers informed him the attack had been seen on CCTV.

A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: "We were alerted to damage caused at 12:47hrs on Sunday, 28 July."

"Officers attended and a man was arrested at the location. He has been taken to police custody."