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Councillor calls on graffiti vigilantes to cease
Written by Declan Rooney
Wednesday, 25 August 2010
A Galway City Councillor has urged everyone involved in graffiti in Knocknacarra to immediately cease defacing public property. Last week the Labour Party councillor joined Fianna Fail Cllr Peter Keane in calling for an end to the racist graffiti that has plagued the area of late.
However, the story took a twist this week, when a group of friends from the suburb took matters into their own hands and left their own mark on the area.
Overnight the racist graffiti was replaced with slogans stating 'Smash ignorance, teach compassion (and spelling)'; 'Céad Mile Failte'; 'No racism in our city!' and 'City of the Tribes, all tribes welcome'.
Cllr McNelis said that while he could understand why people would want to replace the racist graffiti with a positive message, all graffiti must be wiped out.
"If graffiti keeps popping up in an area, it quickly becomes a hot spot for it and it is hard to reverse," said the councillor.
However, one graffiti artist involved in the public backlash claimed it was the right thing to do.
"We did this to show we won't stand for prejudice and ignorance growing in our community and that we believe in community and togetherness, not insularity and exclusion," they said.
The group has suggested that they will continue to counter any more racial or ethnic slurs that appear across Galway City.
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