Broughshane: Community centre attacked and sprayed with graffiti

Police are treating anti-DUP graffiti daubed on the wall of the Royal Victoria Hospital as a sectarian hate crime. A report was made to police on Tuesday about the graffiti, which appeared after a pro-Palestinian slogan was removed. Police are appealing for witnesses to come forward. The Belfast Health and Social Care Trust has said it is in discussions with a contractor to remove the anti-DUP graffiti. Meanwhile, police are investigating a report of criminal damage after the windows of a community centre in Broughshane, County Antrim, were smashed and anti-Sinn Féin graffiti sprayed on the walls. Bréanainn Lyness, the Sinn Féin deputy mayor of Mid and East Antrim Borough Council, said he understood the attack to be a result of the community association inviting him to switch on the town’s Christmas lights. Police said they received a report of the incident at about 07:15 GMT on Wednesday. Speaking to BBC News NI, Lyness described the smashed windows and graffiti as a “disgrace”. He said that he had attended the switching on of the Christmas lights in Broughshane as deputy mayor, “not as a Sinn Féin rep”, and was there to “represent everybody”. He said that the event was “apolitical”....