At 7:33 PM the first bomb exploded outside the Tourist Office on Foyle Street, closely followed by a second explosion on Strand Road at 7:47 PM. I felt tears sting my eyes as I scrolled down my Facebook Timeline, feeling every ounce of pain, frustration and devastation that the city was once again being attacked by ‘dissidents’ or as one of the NW WIMPS crew members angrily described; ‘Mindless thugs, simply terrorists’. 

 

It has been reported that the PSNI had 40 minutes notice to evacuate the two areas in the city side, which included Foyleside Shopping Centre, a local alcoholic shelter, and 27 Pensioners from their sheltered accommodation. The city is known to be busy on Thursday nights, one of the late shopping evenings in the city, the bomb on Foyle street was a mere 500 metres from Foyleside shopping centre, causing severe distress to many people. Unfortunately all those who had parked in Foyleside shopping centre had to abandon their cars, and only today are they getting access to their vehicles ‘around lunchtime’.

 

Shanon O’Kane a member of the North West WIMPS crew told me, “This is quite simply mad, these people are destroying our city and even worse, trying to divide it even further, something which I have been actively involved in working against for the past two years. Enough people have been hurt throughout the troubles, and no one wants this at all. We have to stand together to make it stop.”

 

I echo Shanon’s call to stop this violent activity. Many young people are working hard to promote and improve community relations in Northern Ireland, and we need to make it clear that not only do we completely stand against ANY violent behaviour, but this activity is not in our name. Many people are angered at the News report that the bombs were ‘small’, ‘small’ or large, they are not welcome, this should not be a norm anymore.

 

 In tough economic times, we do not need to lose trade through our shopping centres, or through our tourism industry being attacked, people struggled to get to and from work and school today due to roads being closed, causing more frustration. Most importantly we do not need to be living in fear in our shared society anymore.