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BBC News
09-04-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Queen's University Belfast: Irish language speakers hold protest
Around 100 Irish-speaking students have held a demonstration to call for bilingual signage at Queen's University of Belfast (QUB).The demonstration on Wednesday was organised by An Cumann Gaelach, the university's Irish language want "more visibility" for the Irish language on campus, including signage in Irish and English.A QUB spokesperson said: "The university's leadership will meet with Cumann Gaelach next week to discuss this important issue." Róisín Nic Liam is a PhD student at the university and spoke at the demonstration."There's been no problems with bilingual signage across the rest of the United Kingdom or in the Republic," she told BBC News NI."Queen's is actually lagging behind other universities in terms of representations and equality."It's not that we're looking for supremacy."We're not looking for Irish only signs, we're looking for bilingual signs which recognise both Irish speakers and English speakers in this country."An Cumann Gaelach said that around 1,000 students and staff had backed their call for bilingual signage. Some staff also came to Wednesday's demonstration to offer support, including Dr Michael said that QUB had already made progress by appointing an Irish language support officer."We've seen a lot of movement forward at Queen's and I think this is an extra move that's a simple one, a straightforward one, " he said."Signage makes people feel welcome. It allows the expression of culture in a very basic way and it suggests that we're a tolerant open inclusive place."But not all students have been supportive of the call for Irish and English bilingual a statement posted on social media, the QUB Young Unionists said the "cost of such signage is not something which we would want to see the university try to cover, especially when the university is facing cutbacks in some areas."Queen's should strive to be a neutral and shared space, and we would urge the university to make this their priority."Forcing the issue could only play further into the idea that it is a cold house." 'Irish is for everyone' But Eoghan Ó Conghaile from An Cumann Gaelach said that history showed that Irish was for said the QUB Irish language society had been founded by a Protestant unionist, William Mac Arthur, over a century ago."It's one of the oldest societies in Queen's University and he formed this society to protect and to progress the use of the visibility of the Irish language on and around campus,"In a statement to BBC News NI, a QUB spokesperson said the university was "keen to continue to work in partnership with the Cumann and build on the progress to date".It said this included "the creation of Irish language accommodation, the appointment of an Irish language support officer in the university's language centre, and engagement with a range of staff and student networks which support and promote Irish and other minority languages".
BBC News
07-02-2025
- BBC News
Victims of Swedish school shooting were seven women and three men, police say
The victims of Sweden's worst mass shooting were seven women and three men aged between 28 and 68, police said on Friday after completing the identification were killed at an adult education centre in the city of Orebro on Tuesday, about 125 miles (200km) from Stockholm, in an attack that has sent shockwaves through of the victims lived in Orebro, but so far authorities have declined to share their identities or any other details about also confirmed on Friday that the suspected gunman was a 35-year-old man from the area. He has been named widely in Swedish media as Rickard Andersson. Anna Bergkvist, the head of the police investigation, told the BBC on Thursday that Andersson had killed himself inside the have confirmed that the suspect owned four rifles legally, three of which were found inside the school after the attack alongside 10 empty coalition government on Friday announced plans to strengthen the country's laws, making it harder to purchase guns and restricting certain types of rifle. Victims still not identified In the absence of official confirmation of the victims' identities, information has come out instead through their families and communities. Among them was Salim Isker, a 29-year-old man who fled the conflict in Syria in 2015 with his mother and sister after his father was killed there. Isker was studying at the Risbergska centre, where the attack happened - a school popular with immigrants learning Swedish and other shooting leaves Orebro's immigrant community on edgeSchool shooting: What do we know?Isker's fiancee Kareen Elia, 24, attended a memorial service in Orebro on Thursday night along with his mother and other members of his Kasselia, the priest at the Syrian Orthodox church attended by Isker and his family, told the BBC he was a "simply a good man". "He did not look for trouble. He showed only goodwill. He was a member of our community," Kasselia Al Sheleh, a 48-year-old baker and cook and father of two, has also been named by Swedish media as one of the victims of the was reportedly studying at the Risbergska centre to improve his English.A national of Bosnia and Herzegovina was killed and another was injured, the Bosnian foreign ministry said, citing information shared by Orebro residents. In a post on social media on Friday, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson acknowledged that the event had caused fear among immigrant communities, and urged people to "unite and stand behind all that we hold dear together"."My thoughts are with the relatives who have now received the call that is the worst one can get. To you, I want to say: you are not alone. We stand beside you," he gunman's motive remains unknown. Video filmed inside the building during the attack and published by Swedish media appeared to record someone using anti-immigrant sentiments, but the footage has not been confirmed as accurate by the of Orebro's Middle Eastern immigrant communities have told the BBC they are feeling vulnerable and have been taking additional precautions in the days since the attack. Change to gun laws Sweden's centre-right coalition, which relies on the support of the far-right Sweden Democrats party, said on Friday it would seek to increase vetting around gun purchases and ban certain types of weapon."There are certain types of weapons that are so dangerous that they should only be possessed for civilian purposes as an exception," the government said in a Minister Kristersson, on a visit to Latvia, told reporters the government had to "ensure that only the right people have guns in Sweden".The Sweden Democrats said that it agreed with proposals to amend the law, including greater restrictions on access to semi-automatic weapons."The horrific act of violence in Orebro raises several key questions about gun legislation," the party said in a AR-15, a particular style of semi-automatic rifle that is both powerful and can carry large magazines, was singled out by the government as an example of weapons that could be restricted. Under current Swedish gun laws, anyone over 18 who does not have a criminal record can apply for a permit for a shotgun, handgun or semi-automatic must justify to the police why they need a gun. People over 20 can apply for a special dispensation to own a fully automatic 580,000 Swedes have a weapons licence out of a population of around 10.5 million, according to figures from Swedish broadcaster SVT.A 2017 Swiss study found there were about 2.3 million guns held by civilians in Sweden. That is around 23 guns per 100 people, compared with 29 in Norway and 120 per 100 in the obtain a hunting licence in Sweden, a theory and practical test is required. About 280,000 Swedes have has a relatively high level of gun ownership and gun crime, by European standards, though most weapons are legally owned and used for crime is mostly associated with gangs, who have also taken to using bombs to target one gun crime is less common, and Tuesday's attack the nation's first school shooting and its worst mass shooting. A total of four people were killed in two separate school stabbings in 2015 and 2022.
