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Flag theft at Newry republican monument

Sinn Féin MLA Conor Murphy has condemned the theft of flags from a number of republican monuments around Newry.

monument1Flags were stolen from several monuments on last week, including the national flag from the Óglach Michael Hughes monument at Derrybeg.

“This was a despicable act, carried out by people with no comprehension of compassion, or indeed culture,” he said.

“While the yearly attempts at imbibing sectarianism in young people by burning Irish flags and symbols is bad enough, to take those flags from monuments dedicated to those who have lost their lives is a particularly low act.

“While the name of Michael Hughes may mean little to those who slinked into the area in the dead of night to desecrate his monument, I would urge them to remember that all dead, on all sides, left family and friends behind. Indeed many of Michael’s relatives and friends would walk past his monument every day and remember him with pride.

“I would also urge people not to rise to such contemptuous provocation. The flag has been replaced and if they want to respond to this despicable act the best way to do it is by taking a minute to remember Michael Hughes or to stop by the monument to see it and speak to local people about their memories of Michael.”

Sinn Féin Councillor Charlie Casey said the theft had been reported to the PSNI. “In addition to being a low and cowardly act this was also a crime and as such we have reported it to the PSNI,” he said.

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July 2016“I would urge anyone who saw anything suspicious in or around the monument to contact either ourselves or the PSNI.

Casey added, “No doubt the cowards who carried this out considered themselves to be big, brave men but if they had known anything about Michael Hughes, shot dead at 16 by the British Army, they’d have know they weren’t fit to set foot on his monument.”

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Posted by on Jul 18 2016. Filed under Community, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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