Police release images and appeal for information after Hedd Wyn memorial damage
North Wales have released CCTV images after a memorial dedicated to the poet Hedd Wyn suffered possible criminal damage.
The police said that they wanted to speak to the people included in the images from the early hours of Wednesday 25th August.
“If you recognise the people in the below images, get in touch quoting ref z125786,” they said.
The tribute which is in the centre of Trawsfynydd seems to have been daubed with paint, sparking fury from “disgusted” locals.
The memorial to the poet who was posthumously awarded the Eisteddfod chair in 1917 after losing his life at the Battle of Passchendaele is also dedicated to the other men in the village who fought and died in the conflict.
Cllr Hefin Wyn Jones of Trawsfynydd Community Council said he was angry that the memorial has been shown such “disregard”.
He told the Cambrian News: “I was informed of the vandalism by a fellow community councillor on Thursday morning (26 August) and like everyone I have since spoken to, I am angered that the (Hedd Wyn) memorial has had paint thrown on it.”
“Although the paint can easily be removed, it is the thought that someone has such disregard for a memorial that represents all the men from Trawsfynydd that lost their lives in the First World War.
“The matter has been reported to the police, and we are confident that the nearby CCTV will have captured the culprit.”
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What happened to the Hedd Wyn’s memorial was a hate crime plain & simple. Similar was done to the Tryweryn memorial wall commemorating a war crime committed by the English establishment on Wales.
This deplorable act was likely done by far-right anti-Welsh fascists, no doubt supporters of Brexit, who like ISIS attacked a memorial to a brave Welshman who died so they could enjoy the freedoms denied to him. They are beyond contempt.
Yes, the far right are well known for attacking war memorials…
Probably some bored yob, not politically motivated.
I find the far-right are usually former football yobs like EDL, supporters of Trump, UKIP, Brexit, followers of Tommy Robinson, haters of Islam, BLM & immigrants, who now use the arena of politics as their battleground. And although ignorant & bigoted , takes little effort to find out where sensitive sites are in Wales to daub, deface & attack.
You really need help.
Maybe, but why pick on this particular statue, especially when it may have necessitated a considerable drive to get there? There are war memorials in many Welsh towns and villages. This is one may equally well be an attack on the Welsh language, suggesting the same mindset as the defacing of the Cofiwch Dryweryn graffito. Too early to jump to the conclusion that it isn’t politically motivated.
Though in ascribing motives perhaps we credit the offender with an ability to think and reason they do not possess?
Being generous this offender may not be evil but simply too stupid for words.
For the same reasons that some ‘BLM activists’ (mindless yobs with no interest in racial justice) tore down an elk statue last year – tearing down stuff was something to do during lockdown. Obviously, sometimes there is a clear motive for these actions, but this one strikes me as random. As to the possible involvement of the far right, this seems very unlikely – On the rare occasion I have conversed with far right individuals (a few edl members from Luton and a guy from Latvia who was a neo nazi) they tended to have a deeply unhealthy and error-laden… Read more »
No one tore down the elk statue. Fires were lit nearby which unintentionally damaged its foundations, so the statue was removed, unharmed, for safe keeping.
You need help mate.
Tryweryn is around 50 from England in all directions. Are you saying a bloke simply WOKE up, drove to Tryweryn (which is in the middle of nowhere) in which to throw paint over a memorial to poet. Have you not noticed that the above picture doesn’t appear to show a white person, how can I say that, as the bloke to the right clearly is.. But hey if you simply want to bark at the moon instead.
Are you saying that a non-white person can’t be guilty of anti-Welsh prejudice? Anyway, it isn’t clear what the skin colour of either culprit is. And we won’t know their motive until they’ve been collared.
This vandalism and that of ” Cofiwch”murals seem to me to be the last spiteful acts of right wing unionist yobs who know their time is almost done. Perhaps one of the permanently “outraged” Tory MPs or AMs would care to condemn this criminal behaviour? No?