MEMORIAL TO OMAGH DEAD VANDALISED
Memorial to Omagh dead vandalised
By Claire Regan
THE Garden of Remembrance set up in memory of the victims of the Omagh bombing was extensively damaged in a vicious overnight attack.
Trees and plants were uprooted and garden seats overturned by thugs.
The garden has been located at Sedan Avenue on the banks of the river close to the original site of the Real IRA bomb for just over a year now.
It marks the lives of the 29 people and two unborn babies who were killed on August 15,1998.
Heartless vandals went on the rampage in the garden, uprooting trees, pulling out plants and flowers and throwing over plant pots and garden seats sometime during the early hours of this morning. The damage was discovered shortly before 8am.
Local DUP councillor Oliver Gibson today slammed the attack and said it was a deliberate act designed to provoke and incense a large number of people. He said: "I am shocked and abhorred in the extreme at this attack on a place that it so treasured by the people of Omagh.
"I feel almost ashamed that anyone would do this on a place that was deliberately set up in memory of our family and friends who were killed."
Mr Gibson added that as the Garden of Remembrance is tucked away in a quiet spot designed for reflection, he believed the attackers to have deliberately gone out of their way to target the memorial.
By Claire Regan
THE Garden of Remembrance set up in memory of the victims of the Omagh bombing was extensively damaged in a vicious overnight attack.
Trees and plants were uprooted and garden seats overturned by thugs.
The garden has been located at Sedan Avenue on the banks of the river close to the original site of the Real IRA bomb for just over a year now.
It marks the lives of the 29 people and two unborn babies who were killed on August 15,1998.
Heartless vandals went on the rampage in the garden, uprooting trees, pulling out plants and flowers and throwing over plant pots and garden seats sometime during the early hours of this morning. The damage was discovered shortly before 8am.
Local DUP councillor Oliver Gibson today slammed the attack and said it was a deliberate act designed to provoke and incense a large number of people. He said: "I am shocked and abhorred in the extreme at this attack on a place that it so treasured by the people of Omagh.
"I feel almost ashamed that anyone would do this on a place that was deliberately set up in memory of our family and friends who were killed."
Mr Gibson added that as the Garden of Remembrance is tucked away in a quiet spot designed for reflection, he believed the attackers to have deliberately gone out of their way to target the memorial.
Further Information
Publisher: BELFAST TELEGRAPH
Ref: BT/0775
Published Date: 27-Apr-01
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