WATCH | Drunk Irish tourist climbs onto ‘heritage’ statue in Belgium, breaks it; arrested

An Irish tourist, on holiday in Belgium, was captured climbing a historic statue outside the Brussels stock exchange, causing a portion of it to break off. This is the latest in a spate of bad tourist behaviour incidents.

The incident, which was first reported by local newspaper Het Nieuwsblad, took place on Sunday (September 10).

The man was allegedly drunk and wanted to have his photo clicked while sitting on the back of the statue that comprises a lion and a figure of a man with a torch in hand, as per local media reports.

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The video of the incident, which has been doing rounds on social media, shows the man climbing on the statue, but when he tries to get down, he somehow loses his balance and holds on to the torch, causing it to break off.

He was later arrested at a fast-food restaurant that was located near the statue, according to Het Nieuwsblad.

"The police arrived at the scene and found the tourist a bit further away. He was temporarily held in police custody and will face criminal charges," Insider quoted Brussels police as saying.

The incident took place just a day after the statue was opened to the public after a three-year restoration project that cost 17,600 euros, or around $18,750.

The Brussels Stock Exchange in a statement said that it expects the tourist to pay for the restoration of the statue that he broke.

"On Sunday evening, an Irish tourist in a merry mood wanted to climb onto the lion in front of the Brussels Stock Exchange building," project manager Nel Vandevennet of the renovated stock exchange building told VRT. In the process, the man broke off a newly restored sculpture 'The hand with a torch'."

"The repairs are going to cost a lot of money because the work will have to be done by real craftsmen. It is listed heritage and there will be follow-up from the monuments and landscapes agency of the Brussels region."

"We would like to carry out the repairs quickly, but it will surely take a few weeks or even months. The whole building has only just been restored to its former glory, including the two lions which were in a bad way. We thought the sculptures would enjoy greater respect. We just think it’s very sad this happened."

Bad tourist behaviour, bizarre things vacationers did

This summer, a woman stepped into Rome's iconic tourist attraction, Trevi Fountain, to fill her water bottle.

The clip, which was filmed on July 18 by an onlooker Lex Jones, who witnessed the bizarre incident, shows how the woman casually makes her way out of the 18th-century landmark before a guard confronts her.

In another bizarre incident, a tourist, who was later identified as Ivan Dimitrov (27) from England, was seen carving his and his fiancee's names on the walls of the Colosseum using a key.

Dimitrov said that he was unaware of the antiquity of the ancient monument and then handed a letter of apology to Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri.

“Through these lines, I would like to address my heartfelt and honest apologies to the Italians and to the whole world for the damage caused to an asset which, in fact, is the heritage of all humanity,” he stated in the letter.

(With inputs from agencies)

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