Canal Street Online Manchester

Graffiti of Village murals

Many of you will be aware of the mindless graffiti sprayed across two of the beloved murals in Manchester's Gay Village.

One of our collaborators alerted us to the issues and we quickly shared this horror via our social media pages. As a result, an immediate outcry ensued and so many of you were appalled at what had taken place and shared the posts far and wide.

In fact, the online traffic was so heavy that apart from coverage at Manchester Pride, we have never experienced such engagement and commentary.

Instagram, Facebook and Twitter all saw record engagement and there can be no doubt regarding the strength of feeling around such an outrage.

And then;

Early on Sunday morning a number of key community minded individuals started to communicate with each other and in under an hour the original artists had been sourced and repairs committed to and all with tremendous generosity and a strong sense of community spirit.

The result;

On Monday the team at NOMAD CLAN visited the mural on the side of The Molly House and opposite Iconic Bar, and totally repaired the damage within a couple of hours.

It was as if the vandalism had never taken place.

Tuesday then saw the arrival of another renowned artist AKSE on Richmond St, to repair his own original work, the large image of DIVINA DE CAMPO. Again, after several hours of pain staking restoration, Divina was returned to her glorious self.

By anyone's standards, this was an exceptional combination of artists, organisers and of course, members of our community.

LGBT Ambassador Carl Austin-Behan told us;

"Once again Greater Manchester’s LGBTQ+ Community came together and worked in collaboration to have the murals restored to there former glory in less than 72 hours once the incident happened".

Bravo to all involved and at the point of publishing, we understand that some cctv footage is being scanned in the hope that the perpetrators can be identified and dealt with appropriately.

Yet again, the Manchester LGBTQ community and its allies have demonstrated resilience against those individuals who try to do harm and challenge our rights and freedoms.

 

PC Simon Braithwaite from Greater Manchester Police is dealing with the incidents involving the hate related criminal damage and is in the process of collecting CCTV and other evidence with the hope to progressing the investigation.

If you have any contacts, colleagues or friends who may have some information. Maybe someone who may have been out in the village about that time. Someone who may have seen something. The smallest detail could really help.

Please feel free to pass on his contact details to anyone who wishes to pass on information.

PC 11680 Braithwaite

Gay Village, Piccadilly & China Town Licensing Officer

11680@gmp.pnn.police.uk

 

Published: 1-Jul-2021: (6269)

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