People of the Bogside came out on Friday to show their solidarity with Dove House Meenan
SINN Fein Foyle MLA Martin McGuinness has accused dissident republicans of using young people to attack a vital resource service in Derry.
Dove House in the Bogside’s Meenan Square was targeted in two arson attacks last week in the space of 48 hours.
It previously had been attacked with paint bombs.
A rally was held last Friday afternoon when several hundred people came out in solidarity with Dove House and to show their total disgust at the attacks.
The deputy first minister said: “We have a tiny number of young people who I feel, on occasions, being manipulated by dissident type elements.
“They have been corrupting these young people’s minds over the course of the last number of years.
“These people have an agenda.
“There are some people who try to cast a political cloak over it by saying young are involved in it as an act of defiance.
“These are acts of criminality.”
The Sinn Fein Foyle MLA added: “A vital community service is provided here by the people who have been working on behalf of the community in Dove House for decades, helping some of the most disadvantaged families in our society – and to find that there is a tiny number of people, some of whom are being manipulated by dissident elements, who think they do a service to any cause by attacking Dove House is beyond my comprehension whatsoever.
“What we need to see is an end to these attacks.
“We need to see the young people who are a tiny minority within our society – the vast people of young people are absolutely tremendous, they are brilliant – but there is a tiny number of young people and indeed their parents who would need to get their act together.”
