Republicans 'painting post boxes green'
YOUNG republicans from west of the Bann have been posting photographs of themselves on the internet painting post boxes green.
It is understood that hundreds of Royal Mail boxes in Londonderry, Strabane and Tyrone have been changing colour as part of a fresh strategy to finally bring about some degree of cultural Irish unity.
The campaign has especially high visibility on many home pages of young people on the social networking website Bebo.
But one News Letter reader said the campaign was meeting with definite resistance.
"A post box in Pomeroy was painted green but unfortunately for the 'painters' it was restored to its original colour within a day," he said.
"The owner of the Protestant house which it was situated beside would not tolerate such an attack on his community."
Asked if it was part of a campaign to divert young republicans from dissident activity, Sinn Fein MLA Barry McElduff said: "Young people need to be encouraged when they make political statements in a peaceful and political manner.
"As many as 50 post boxes have been painted in Tyrone in the past month.
"It is ironic that in Lifford post boxes are green but in Tyrone, only one mile away, they are red.
"This is about blurring the border."
Asked if the campaign was actually encouraging criminal damage, he said: "Who knows? They look like neat, professional jobs to me."
But West Tyrone DUP MLA Tom Buchanan condemned the trend.
"No amount of green post boxes will hide the fact that Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom and will remain so," he said.
"The pathetic use of vandalism and graffiti is now all that Sinn Fein has left to attempt to fool some republicans that a united Ireland is coming."
Traditional Unionist Voice vice-chairman Keith Harbinson called for a security clampdown.
"Do the police plan to take action against these vandals?" he asked.
"Will Sinn Fein assist the police in their investigation and hand over the perpetrators – or will we again see criminal activity by republicans shielded by the so-called republican code?
"Perhaps of the greatest concern, however, is how Sinn Fein can have any kind of role within the devolution of policing and justice when very public displays of law-breaking are encouraged."
A Royal Mail spokesman declined to comment on the scale or cost of the problem.
"Repairs to letter boxes, which include repainting, will be carried out as part of our ongoing maintenance programme," he added.
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Thursday 09 February 2012
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