A COMMUNITY rally will take place in Beechmount on Wednesday night after racist graffiti was painted on a house in the area.
The PSNI said the resident returned to his home in Beechmount Street to discover paint had been thrown over the wall and the word LOCAL daubed on the brickwork. It's believed the incident occurred at some point between 12pm on Sunday and 8am on Monday.
Beechmount Residents' Collective have organised a rally at 7pm tonight in response to the racist graffiti.
“Beechmount stands proudly as an inclusive and welcoming community. Racism has no place in our communities, we will not stand by and let this continue," a spokesperson said. “We as a community support and send solidarity to this family affected.
“We call on the community to rally this Wednesday 7pm. Meet at Mick's shop Beechmount Street. We must fight racism together.
“No one will live in fear in our communities. This disgusting attack does not represent us as a community and we can never stand by and let this fester and go under the carpet as this is a serious situation that could spiral out of control as we saw in other areas of Ireland."
Neighbourhood Policing Inspector Jackson said: “We are investigating this as a racially-motivated hate crime, and would appeal to anyone who noticed anything suspicious in the area, or who may have relevant doorbell camera, CCTV, or other footage, to contact police on 101 quoting reference number 216 of 03/02/25.
“There is no place in our society for this type of intimidating behaviour and we will continue to engage with local representatives and partner agencies around community safety.
“Everyone has the right to feel secure in their own home, and we know the people of West Belfast will rightly condemn this disgraceful attack.”
