MP hits out over graffiti spray taunt
FEARS OVER ANGER ‘DIRECTED TOWARDS PEOPLE IN AUTHORITY’
A GREATER Manchester MP has hit out at vandals who scrawled an offensive message on his office in spray paint.
Staff working for Chris Green arrived at his Westhoughton base this morning to discover crude drawings and abuse daubed onto the shutters at the front of the building.
The Bolton West MP says his team have contacted the police about the incident.
He believes it could have been motivated by a number of issues, including the Metropolitan Police’s handling of a recent vigil held in London in memory of Sarah Everard.
The death of the 33-year-old and the subsequent reaction of government officials has been met with anger by large sections of the public.
Mr Green also believes the vandalism could be the result of frustration at the coronavirus lockdown or the upcoming Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, which seeks to make it easier for police to shut down protests.
He told the M.E.N. that he is concerned about increasing anger towards ‘people in positions of authority.’
He said: “I’ve always had a very open policy in terms of meeting people to discuss things at surgeries, I do regular public meetings right around the constituency so anyone is able to raise whatever concerns they have with me. This is inexcusable.
“When my team could be focused on looking after the interests of constituents, now they’re having to involve the police and sort out the cleaning and repairs that are required.
“For someone to go out of their way to do this, there’s a clear malign intent and we don’t know what will happen next. “There are concerns about safety and my team spends more time in the office than I do, so it’s unfortunate that hate and that violence has been directed towards them and not to challenging me in an open democratic way.”
Mr Green said that while he believes some of the recent anger towards politicians may have its roots in the reaction to the recent Sarah Everard vigil, he maintains that police acted within the law on that day. He added: “There’s always undercurrents of anger no matter what the time is and I think that certain people now believe that they have an excuse - a just cause and that’s principally triggered by the Metropolitan Police handling of the vigil in London. “Those same people are now using the death of a woman as an excuse for their own violent objectives.”
I think certain people now believe they have an excuse -triggered by the handling of the vigil in London
MP Chris Green