Election Poster Removal being treated as Hate Crime

Police are treating the removal of  a number of election posters from the Shandon Park area of Newry as a hate crime.

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Police received a report yesterday (Friday) that posters had been removed overnight.

Inspector O’Connor would appeal to anyone who may have witnessed this incident to contact Police at Newry on the non-emergency number 101, quoting reference 1170 03/02/17.

Alternatively, if someone would prefer to provide information without giving their details they can contact the independent charity Crimestoppers and speak to them anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Assembly election candidate, Conor Murphy whose election posters were among those stolen said "This is viewed by most as a sinister act which seems to have been well coordinated due to the amount of posters removed. Sinn Féin will not be silenced by those who remain hostile and wish to create division. This is a criminal act and we expect the Police to treat it as such"

Party colleague Councillor, Charlie Casey confirmed that party activists had recently erected candidate posters in the Newry City area and a number of posters in the Belfast Road locality had been removed or stolen.