Around tea time on the 11 July, a bizarre story came to light.
A man had found by security in the City Hall overnight, and allowed to leave the building, claiming (according to UTV) “he had been locked in at a function”. It was later noticed – some reports say by a tourist during the day – that the City Hall’s flag/flag pole was damaged.
By the next morning – the Twelfth – the Union flag was flying from a central flag pole over the City Hall.
However, a councillor yesterday suggested that there were many questions to be answered around the security breach.
- How did the intruder get access to the City Hall?
- Why did the City Hall’s overnight security staff release the intruder without informing the police (or taking details to be able to identify the man)?
- Was the incident picked up by the City Hall’s CCTV?
- Why was there no subsequent security sweep of the building to discover if the intruder had left anything more sinister than a damaged flag/flag pole behind?
UTV further explained:
A police spokesperson said: “Police have received a report this afternoon [11 July] from Belfast City Council regarding the alleged theft of a union flag overnight.”
No-one has been arrested over the incident and police say they are liaising with the city council.
Alan Meban. Tweets as @alaninbelfast. Blogs about cinema and theatre over at Alan in Belfast. A freelancer who writes about, reports from, live-tweets and live-streams civic, academic and political events and conferences. He delivers social media training/coaching; produces podcasts and radio programmes; is a FactCheckNI director; a member of Ofcom’s Advisory Committee for Northern Ireland; and a member of the Corrymeela Community.
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