Latest news with #Strabane
Yahoo
19-07-2025
- Yahoo
Nigerian woman buoyed by kindness of neighbours after racist attack
A Nigerian woman targeted in racist graffiti attack has decided not to leave her home after being "showered" in "love and care" by the local community. The words "immigrants out" were spray-painted on the gable wall of Uche Ukeje's home in Strabane, County Tyrone, last week. Ms Ukeje and her two daughters, aged 24 and 14, were left terrified by what police are describing as a racially-motivated hate crime. "The community have been wonderful," she told BBC News NI. Ms Ukeje said it was the first time she or her family had experienced any type of racism since they moved to Strabane two years ago. Security cameras have since been installed at the property. Ms Ukeje said her family remain "deeply unsettled" and had considered relocating away from Strabane but the overwhelming support from neighbours and wider community has persuaded her to change her mind. "A lot of people have been calling around, to see how I am feeling, and they care so much," she said, adding that Strabane is a "quiet, and peace-loving place". She told BBC News NI that the police have been doing extra patrols on her street to check on her. "The people of Strabane have showered me in love and care, it has been overwhelming," she added. Kamini Rao, from Strabane Ethnic Community Association, said people's shock turned to anger in the days following the incident. "The response from the community has been so overwhelming," she said. "Everybody has been 100% behind Uche and the girls, supporting them, because nobody wanted to see them leaving Strabane." She said she was glad that Ms Ukeje and her daughters have changed their minds and will remain in the place they now call home. Ms Rao said the outcome proved that whoever was behind the racist attack had not won. "We're going to be working on the ground to make sure nothing like this ever happens again in the community," she said. "She's loved round here and what happened to her was very intimidating, it was a disgrace what happened to her. "I'm glad her neighbours rallied round to show her that that's not the type of people here in Strabane." More on this story Mother terrified as home targeted in racist attack
BBC News
19-07-2025
- BBC News
Strabane: Nigerian woman targeted in racist attack buoyed by kindness of neighbours
A Nigerian woman targeted in racist graffiti attack has decided not to leave her home after being "showered" in "love and care" by the local words "immigrants out" were spray-painted on the gable wall of Uche Ukeje's home in Strabane, County Tyrone, last week. Ms Ukeje and her two daughters, aged 24 and 14, were left terrified by what police are describing as a racially-motivated hate crime."The community have been wonderful," she told BBC News NI. Ms Ukeje said it was the first time she or her family had experienced any type of racism since they moved to Strabane two years ago. Security cameras have since been installed at the Ukeje said her family remain "deeply unsettled" and had considered relocating away from Strabane but the overwhelming support from neighbours and wider community has persuaded her to change her mind."A lot of people have been calling around, to see how I am feeling, and they care so much," she said, adding that Strabane is a "quiet, and peace-loving place". She told BBC News NI that the police have been doing extra patrols on her street to check on her. "The people of Strabane have showered me in love and care, it has been overwhelming," she added. Kamini Rao, from Strabane Ethnic Community Association, said people's shock turned to anger in the days following the incident. "The response from the community has been so overwhelming," she said."Everybody has been 100% behind Uche and the girls, supporting them, because nobody wanted to see them leaving Strabane."She said she was glad that Ms Ukeje and her daughters have changed their minds and will remain in the place they now call home. Ms Rao said the outcome proved that whoever was behind the racist attack had not won. "We're going to be working on the ground to make sure nothing like this ever happens again in the community," she said."She's loved round here and what happened to her was very intimidating, it was a disgrace what happened to her."I'm glad her neighbours rallied round to show her that that's not the type of people here in Strabane."
BBC News
10-07-2025
- BBC News
Strabane: Police treat graffiti on family home as race hate crime
The police are treating graffiti daubed on a house in County Tyrone as a racially-motivated hate words "immigrants out" were painted on the gable wall of a house in the Ballycolman area of Strabane. Sinn Féin councillor Paul Boggs described the incident as "disgusting" and said it left a mother and her two young daughters in "a state of abject fear and dread".The Strabane Ethnic Community Association described the incident as "really sickening" and said it was "incredibly depressing for anyone to target this lovely family". 'Sickening and also incredibly depressing' Boggs said the incident is not representative of the estate or the wider Strabane area and was carried out by "a very small minority" who have nothing to offer but "fear and hate"."Racism, wherever it raises its ugly head, must be opposed, challenged and stamped out," he said."The Ballycolman is and has always been a proud, friendly and welcoming community and this form of racism flies in the face of the spirit of this community."Kamini Rao, from the Strabane Ethnic Community Association told BBC News NI that they had met with the family, who are originally from Nigeria, and were supporting them."They are valued members of our community, contributing to the local economy, working, and also attending school here in Strabane."This incident is not reflective at all of the values of our community here and needs to be called out unequivocally."Ms Rao thanked the local community for rallying around the family and said the "vile message" had since been removed from the gable wall. Police said officers were notified of the graffiti at around 07:45 BST on have appealed for anyone with information to come forward. Meanwhile, in a separate incident, an immigrant family have reportedly left their home in fear after the slogan "locals only' was painted on the front door of the house in Crumlin, County Antrim. The police are also treating that as a hate Sinn Féin councillor Anne Marie Logue condemned it as "despicable" and "an act of racist cowardice"."As a result, this family has left Crumlin town in fear," she said."This is a hate crime in the worst possible sense."
BBC News
07-07-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Derry homes benefit from extra waste water funding
More than 3,000 new homes in Londonderry are to be among the first to benefit from extra government funding to improve Northern Ireland's waste water comes after £11m was allocated to the Department for Infrastructure in the June monitoring round – Stormont's system of reviewing budgets and reallocating Minister Liz Kimmins said the extra money would help "release capacity" within the June a report found there was a "huge problem" with the level of water infrastructure in Northern Ireland. Speaking in Derry on Monday, Kimmins said she was "determined to do all that I can to unlock wastewater capacity across the whole of the North"."Working in partnership with NI Water and others, I will continue to take every opportunity we have to ensure wastewater connections are available to support the development of housing and the wider economy," the Sinn Féin politician additional money from the June monitoring round will benefit 1,000 homes in Derry's Waterside, a further 100 in Strabane, 30 in Sion Mills and 2,000 in Derry's includes The Cashel development on land between Whitehouse Road and the Coshquin area of Derry. Patrick McGinnis, from developer The Braidwater Group, said he "warmly welcomed" the minister's announcement."The focus now must be on the next steps and ensuring work can be progressed at pace so that much-needed housing can be delivered without further delay," he said. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK where households do not pay directly for their NI Water receives a government subsidy which diverts more than £300m annually from the Stormont Executive's persistent underfunding of NI Water has led to a shortfall in wastewater infrastructure, which in turn, is limiting house year NI Water said an outdated and at capacity sewage network was stalling construction of new homes, businesses and public buildings in 23 towns across Northern Ireland.
The Guardian
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Derry spools sculpture disappoints some former ‘factory girls'
After decades of debate over how to honour the women who used to work in the city's shirt factories, Derry has produced a sculpture of three giant spools of thread cast in bronze. Ranging in height from 2 to 3.5 metres (6.5-11.5ft), the monuments loom over Harbour Square to recall an era when thousands of girls and women worked in dozens of factories that made the Northern Irish city a world leader in shirt production. However, some former workers are aghast and say the decision to use abstract symbols rather than female figures occludes their role from history. 'This gesture fell way short of what we hoped for – we feel airbrushed out of it,' Clare Moore told the BBC this week. Before the official unveiling last month, several former workers staged a protest and held a banner saying 'these factory girls say no'. There had been no proper consultation and the bronze spools did not accurately resemble the ones they used in the factories, they said. Derry city and Strabane district councils had hoped the £187,000 design would draw a line under a troubled 20-year stop-start quest to represent the city's industrial heritage with public art. The council called the artwork a 'fitting tribute' and said it had fully engaged with the former workers. Chris Wilson, the artist, said at least two years of consultations included a day-long workshop that showed a model of the artwork to dozens of former workers, who at that meeting raised no objections. 'They all seemed onboard with the idea,' Wilson told the Guardian. 'I've never worked on a project that had such an extensive and transparent process.' The sculptures are not figurative but 'almost anthropomorphic' in suggesting a group of people, with textures and shadows to evoke memory, he said. 'The factories are all gone but what came across to me, in talks with the ladies, was their memories and recollections and friendships.' Sign up to Art Weekly Your weekly art world round-up, sketching out all the biggest stories, scandals and exhibitions after newsletter promotion One of the bronze spools emits what appears to be a loose thread around the base but is in fact quotes from some former workers, Wilson said. 'I've been told that public art is like sport. Everybody has opinion and is entitled to have an opinion.'
