A DUP MLA has compared the paint attack on the Queen Victoria statue in the grounds of the Royal Victoria Hospital to the actions of the Islamic State. North Belfast MLA Brian Kingston was speaking in the Assembly on Monday. On Friday members of left-wing republican group Lasair Dhearg poured red paint over the statue. Referring to the monarch as the Famine Queen, posting on X the group said: "In a Socialist Republic all the symbols of Empire will be stripped from the land: street names, statues, institutions, and those that will stand against the people organising for a better future. Only the fight for a Socialist Republic can bring about the end of occupation and Imperialism in Ireland."
