Christmas defacement of Free Derry Corner condemned; vandals told to remove graffiti

Vandals who scrawled graffiti on the monument to the civil rights struggle and uprising against the civil authorities in Derry in the late 1960s and early 1970s have been urged to come back and remove it.

The graffiti appears to refer to the Bogside and Brandywell Health Forum (BBHF).

Tony Doherty, of the BBHF, stated: “I see someone has defaced one of the most famous monuments to civil rights struggle. This is no place for personal angst or grievance. It never has been.”

Mr. Doherty, whose father Patrick was aged 32 when he was shot dead by British paratroopers on Bloody Sunday at the Rossville flats just a matter of metres from the wall, urged those who damaged it to make amends for the wanton vandalism.

"Please come back and remove it. Leave the wall alone!” said Mr. Doherty, who is also the chair of the Bloody Sunday Trust.