Man arrested after Ballymena 'spread with slurry overnight' ahead of town's first Pride parade

The Journal

3 hours ago

LAST UPDATE
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34 mins ago
A MAN HAS BEEN arrested after slurry was spread on streets in Ballymena and shopfronts have allegedly been vandalised with spray paint ahead of a Pride parade that is due to take place in the Co Antrim town this afternoon.
Business owners this morning opened their shutters on Ballymoney Street and Greenvale Street, close to the Town Centre shopping centre, to find that slurry had been spread up and down the roads overnight.
Family-owned businesses and their staff are currently cleaning up the mess ahead of
the town's first ever Pride parade this afternoon
, which was due to finish up on Greenvale Street.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) have said that one man, aged 19, was arrested this morning in connection with their investigation.
Police said that the incident, which happened just before 3am this morning, is being treated as a hate crime. The 19-year-old was arrested after being accused of criminal damage and possession of a blade, the PSNI said.
Local SDLP councillor Denise Johnston wrote on X: 'I am hearing that the town centre in Ballymena has been spread with slurry overnight ahead of the town's first Pride rally. The local businesses are currently cleaning it up.'
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'I am disgusted by those bigots who would commit such an act and hope they will have been caught on CCTV,' she added.
Tánaiste Simon Harris has described the incident as a 'vile act'. 'Love is love,' he wrote in a post to social media.
'It's awful,' one Greenvale shop owner told
The Journal
. 'It's all up the lampposts as well.'
Alliance leader Naomi Long posted to X this morning: 'I despair the mentality of those who spread slurry on the streets of their town motivated by hate and bigotry. Disgusting in every sense of the word.'
Shop owners reported the incident to the police, it is understood.
Poster for the first Pride Parade in Ballymena, which will take place this afternoon.
Mid & East Antrim Pride
Mid & East Antrim Pride
Nicole, a manager of the K&G McAtamney Butchery & Deli on Ballymoney Street, said that when workers arrived at the car park this morning there was slurry the whole way from there to the butchers.
'It's all around the town from Ballymoney street to here, and it's particularly bad on Greenvale Street,' she said. 'The vendors here have been out all morning getting involved in cleaning it, including our workers.'
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Nicole told
The Journal
: 'We don't understand what would compel somebody to do this and for it to coincide with our first pride event, which is a positive thing bringing people into the town, is just vile.'
'We're halfway up the street cleaning it now, and it's been all hands on deck, but it's been deeply unpleasant for our staff, and of course our customers.'
Ballymena made headlines around the world after three nights of rioting earlier this month in which over 40 PSNI officers were injured.
PSNI said the rioting erupted after a
vigil to protest the alleged sexual assault in the town was 'hijacked' by 'racist thuggery'.
Curtis Lee, the organiser of the Pride parade in Ballymena which will take place this afternoon, told
The Journal:
'The committee's opinion was that, no matter what, we're going ahead with this because to cancel would be to give into fear.'
There will be protests today from four evangelical Christian groups. One of the four groups protesting is United Christian Witness, and the other three are local church groups.
With reporting by Eimer McAuley & Diarmuid Pepper
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