Queen Victoria statue in Belfast hospital grounds targeted in paint attack

Police in Belfast have appealed for witnesses after a statue of Queen Victoria was vandalised.

The statue sits in the grounds of the Royal Victoria Hospital, named after the late monarch. Republican group Lasair Dhearg posted a picture on social media on Friday afternoon, appearing to show one of its supporters pouring red paint over the statue.

In an accompanying post, the group said, "Belfast activists" had paid a visit to the "Famine Queen" - a reference to the Irish potato famine of the mid-19th century. "British monarch Victoria oversaw the Great Hunger and the decimation of the Irish population as millions perished and emigrated," it stated.

In a statement, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said it had received a report of criminal damage on the Grosvenor Road site in west Belfast on Friday afternoon. "Inquiries are at an early stage and police would appeal to any witnesses, or anyone who might have any information which could assist us, to get in touch." Work was underway on Friday evening to remove the paint.

In a statement, the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust said: "Belfast Trust is aware of an incident in which the statue of Queen Victoria, on the Royal Group of Hospitals site, was daubed with red paint. "Trust staff are working to have this paint removed as quickly as possible." DUP Assembly member Phillip Brett said the vandalism was an "utter disgrace".

He said those responsible wanted to "intimidate" and "erase" British identity from Northern Ireland. "This wasn't 'activism'," he said.

"It was an attack on shared space, on heritage and on basic respect." Ulster Unionist Assembly member Alan Chambers, who is the party's health spokesman, also condemned the incident. Read more from Sky News:Three dead and dozens injured after Milan tram derailsWe are in a new era of multi-party politics "Every pound that now has to be spent repairing this damage is a pound taken away from the health service." The news follows the arrest of a 38-year-old-man on suspicion of racially aggravated criminal damage after a statue of Sir Winston Churchill was graffitied in Parliament Square in Westminster.

That statue was defaced overnight with "Zionist war criminal" and other graffiti. While in opposition, Labour supported the then government in introducing prison sentences of up to 10 years for those who desecrate war memorials..