Fury over attack on siege hero's statue
THE statue of one of the heroes of the Siege of Derry has been seriously damaged by vandals.
An iconic artefact of the siege of 1689, the statue of Governor George Walker stands in the grounds of the Apprentice Boys Memorial Hall on Londonderry's Society Street.
At some point in the late hours of Thursday night or early hours of yesterday the statue was heavily damaged.
Police at the scene gathered items for forensic examination that may provide clues to the identity of the assailants. One item removed for examination was a piece of iron.
The entire left arm of the stone statue was destroyed during the attack and the face and legs were severely damaged.
A heavy marble plaque containing the names of the 13 Apprentice Boys, who closed the city's gates against the oncoming armies of Catholic King James, also lay in dozens of pieces. Slate tiles on the pedestal where the statue stands were also smashed.
General secretary of the Apprentice Boys Billy Moore said: "I am obviously deeply saddened that shortly after the announcement of the award of the UK City of Culture some citizens of the city think that Protestant culture should be treated like this."
The attack comes a week before the start of the Maiden City Festival, which commemorates the events surrounding the Relief of Derry after the historic siege, which shaped not only the train of Irish but also British and European history.
The festival culminates in the annual Apprentice Boys of Derry parade, scheduled this year for August 14.
Often surrounded by serious violence, in recent years the annual walk has been hailed as a model of how to negotiate around contentious parades.
Indeed, as the statue lay in ruins yesterday morning, throngs of tourists were being led around the Walls of Derry yards from the scene of the attack.
"There will be the usual calls after the parade about the Apprentice Boys disrupting trade and so on, but the same people tend to say nothing when this type of attack happens," said Mr Moore.
Of Scots origin, the Rev George Walker was joint Governor of Londonderry with Colonel Robert Lundy when the siege commenced.
The original statue stood on the city's walls on a column overlooking the Bogside until it was destroyed by a Provisional IRA bomb in 1973, and, in recent years, the 'new' statue has been subject to paint and petrol bomb attacks.
Mr Moore said: "It will cost a lot of money to repair, money that the Apprentice Boys do not have. But the priority will be to get the statue repaired as good as new."
Phillip Gillen, tour manager at the Memorial Hall, said: "This is really terrible. I am dumbfounded. The statue may have to be totally replaced.
"Many of our members will be angry about this but I hope this will not increase tensions in the run-up to the parade."
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Sunday 12 February 2012
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