PSNI probe criminal damage after republican group ‘takes direct action’ against landlords
The PSNI confirmed it received a report about criminal damage in the Harrogate Street area.Police are investigating a report of criminal damage after a republican activist sprayed graffiti demanding lower rent prices on a property in west Belfast.A video shared on social media by the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP) appears to show a party campaigner spraying ‘Drop the Rents’ on the front of a house.The PSNI confirmed it received a report at around 1.50pm this afternoon about criminal damage in the Harrogate Street area.The footage appears to show a man referred to as “a republican socialist activist’ spray painting the demand on the window and wall of the currently unoccupied property.“Republican Socialist activists in Belfast have taken direct action at a vacant property in Beechmount, currently being advertised by UPS at £900 a month for a three bedroom house, almost £500 above LHA rates,” the IRSP claimed.“This profiteering drives gentrification, forcing working class families with deep generational ties out of their own communities.“We have made it clear that if landlords continue to exploit the housing crisis and bleed working class areas for profit, we will escalate our response.Belfast History Explained: Who was Mary Ann McCracken?"Some may call this extreme, but when politicians, many of them landlords themselves, refuse to act, direct action becomes the only defence against those who thrive on systematic poverty.“Republican Socialists will not stand idle while our communities are sold off for greed. Drop the rents. Defend our communities.”Detectives have appealed for anyone with information to call police on the 101 number, quoting reference 893 of 19/08/25 or alternatively to make a report online or via Crimestoppers.
