CCTV enquiries will be carried out to trace ‘hooligans’ after a war memorial in the Northern Quarter was defaced with graffiti.
The graffiti appeared to have been scrawled on the memorial beside the car park on Tib Street, in Manchester city centre, beneath bronze plaques to commemorate men who gave their lives for the country in the First and Second World Wars.
They are positioned high on a wall near to the multi-storey car park on the corner of Church Street and Tib Street. The graffiti was painted on a painted mural of poppies below.
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Photograph of War Plaques on Tib Street -Credit:Manchester Evening News
It isn’t the first time the memorial has been defaced. In 2022, council bosses vowed to investigate after the unsightly graffiti was painted onto the mural.
Local city centre councillor and spokesperson Pat Karney said the council would seek out CCTV footage to catch the ‘hooligans’ responsible for the latest incident.
He added: “This was shamefully disrespectful to people who died fighting for our freedom. We will have it cleaned up.
“The council will check to see if we have any CCTV cameras to help us identify these hooligans.”
The plaques remember the men of J & N Philips and Co Ltd who fought and died in both world wars. Founded in Staffordshire in 1747, the textile manufacturer’s Manchester building stood on the site where the car park stands today.
The tribute tablets were saved and remounted after the company, which also produced smallwares, stopped trading in around 1969.