West Belfast organisations commission a mural for George Floyd

Community organisations in West Belfast have commissioned a mural at the Falls Road International Wall highlighting the death of George Floyd and supporting the Black Lives Matter campaign.

West Belfast is the symbolic stronghold of republican resistance against the British occupation in the North of Ireland.

Sinn Féin MP Paul Maskey has praised the initiative saying: "The brutal killing of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis has been broadcasted across the world. The killing of George Floyd has again brought the issue of racism within the US justice system and the socio-economic exclusion of the black community in the United States to the fore."

The community of West Belfast has a proud and long-standing history of standing up for the rights of the oppressed and proactively challenging the cancers of fascism and racism in our society.

Maskey added: "I am delighted that Fáilte Feirste Thiar and Féile An Phobail have joined up with local artists to paint a mural expressing our community’s continued solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and those campaigning for rights, economic inclusion and an end to repression in the United States."