Nutloose,
I second your views, any attempt to make a "special" case of this vandalism will only make this hard won memorial a bigger target for all and sundry angry people. Surely in an age when a government can give priority to blokes marrying blokes etc, they can find time to push through a law that penalises, heavily, anyone defacing public monuments and memorials. What happens if and when these idiots, whoever they are, get in to the NM Arboretum at Alrewas ? Whatever, I think that this sort of thing is fairly new so needs nipping in the bud big time. I won't hold my breath for any political priority for it though.
Smudge