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Community turns out to support school facing repeated break-ins

A rally was held at Bunscoil an tSléibhe Dhuibh on Thursday after the west Belfast school was broken into for the third time since last weekend.
A rally was held at Bunscoil an tSléibhe Dhuibh on Thursday after the west Belfast school was broken into for the third time since last weekend. A rally was held at Bunscoil an tSléibhe Dhuibh on Thursday after the west Belfast school was broken into for the third time since last weekend.

A west Belfast community has turned out in support of pupils and teachers whose school was broken into three times in three days.

Dozens attended a rally on Thursday evening at Bunscoil an tSléibhe Dhuibh on Ballymurphy Road, where vandals caused up to £10,000 in damage to the Irish language school and its nursery since last Saturday night.

The repeated incidents have forced parents to stay overnight at the premises since the last break-in to protect it from further damage, and at Thursday’s rally, parents, pupils and local residents called for those behind the vandalism to stop.

Sinn Féin councillor Steven Corr said: “The fact that we now have people going out of their way to stay overnight at the Bunscoil shows the amazing lengths people are going to to protect their community from this mindless destruction.

“This school is promoting the Irish language at a time when it is facing hurdles from those who wish to see it subdued, and now it is being forced to endure these attacks from within our own community.

“However, this rally shows that the wider community has had enough of this and is telling these thugs that we won’t stand for it anymore. Our children deserve better than this wanton destruction.”