Pro-Palestinian graffiti sprayed onto a wall at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast around six months ago has been removed.
It comes just days after the Belfast Health Trust said it had been struggling to find a contractor to remove the “antisemitic” graffiti from the hospital wall in the Falls Road area.
The trust said several contractors had turned down the work.
However, on Tuesday it emerged that it has been removed.
But more graffiti stating ‘F*** the DUP, Free Palestine’ has now been daubed on the wall.
Last week, the DUP said it had raised the issue of the slogans, which included “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” with the NI Public Services Ombudsman.
An official complaint had previously been lodged with the Belfast Health Trust requesting that the pro-Palestinian graffiti was taken down.
DUP leader Gavin Robinson said he contended the phrase was “viewed by many people as a violent call to erase Israel and its population from existence”, and added he was concerned it will deter members of the local Jewish community from accessing services.
DUP MLA Diane Dodds had also raised the matter at a meeting of the Stormont Health Committee last Thursday querying why the graffiti had not been removed and how it had been allowed to remain for so long.
“It is a bit appalling that we’ve waited six months to get rid of antisemitic graffiti,” she said.
Maureen Edwards, interim head of the trust, said they had “extreme difficulty” finding a contractor to remove it, but have plans to take it down.
She responded saying: “I completely agree with you. As one of the first trusts of sanctuary, we take it very seriously.
“We had extreme difficulty getting anyone to take the graffiti down.
“We had gone out to lots of contractors who would not do it. It is being dealt with now.
“We’d gone to local community groups, who had supported us, but we had real difficulty in getting anyone to do it.”
