VANDALISM at a memorial to Seán South and Fearal O’Hanlon has been described as “disappointing.”
Police are investigation the incident on the Altawark Road near Roslea last week, when white paint was thrown over the memorial to the two IRA men, who were killed following an attack on Brookebourgh barracks on New Year’s Day 1957.
Noting it wasn’t the first time the memorial had been vandalised, local Cllr Sheamus Greene said it was “just disappointing” it had happened, and called for “a bit of mutual respect.”
“It has been vandalised several different times over the years, but it’s been probably five or six years from the last time,” he said.
“It’s disappointing people just can’t get over themselves and let everyone honour their own in the way they want.”
Cllr Greene added, “This sectarian attack didn’t go unnoticed by locals, as it is believed that the car involved was spotted and it’s number plate noted.”
The monument was erected close to the spot where the two men died at Moane’s Cross, between Roslea and Brookeborough. Both men, and the attack on the Brookeborough RUC barracks, were immortalised in the famous song ‘The Ballad of Seán South.’
Police have said they are investigating the criminal damage as a sectarian hate crime, and enquiries are ongoing.
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