|
 |
 | | | | | |||||||||||||||||||||
| | You are in: UK: Scotland | |||||||||||||||||||||||
 | | Monday, 13 May, 2002, 15:02 GMT 16:02 UK Blair condemns statue vandals  The glasses on the statue have been damaged Prime Minister Tony Blair has condemned the vandals who damaged a statue of Donald Dewar. Mr Blair, who unveiled the 9ft tall bronze statue last Tuesday, said he deplored all acts of vandalism and that the incident had been upsetting. Police are examining CCTV footage after the glasses on the memorial to Scotland's late First Minister were bent out of shape. The damage to the statue, which stands outside the Royal Concert Hall on Buchanan Street in Glasgow, was noticed at the weekend.
Strathclyde Police said it had not yet received any report of vandalism. It would be up to Glasgow City Council to make such a complaint. However, police believe a closed circuit television camera behind the statue may have captured anyone damaging the statue over the weekend. A traffic cone was also placed on top of the statue the day after the unveiling ceremony, but was quickly removed. 'Substance over style' The statue was created by 35-year-old artist Kenny Mackay, whose workshop is in Mr Dewar's former constituency of Anniesland. At the unveiling, Mr Blair described Mr Dewar's political career as "very much a triumph of substance over style. "Substance was all that ever mattered to him. With Donald, style never stood a chance." The prime minister said the founding figure of Scottish devolution was "without doubt one of the towering political figures of his generation". | |
See also:  Internet links: The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites Top Scotland stories now:  Links to more Scotland stories are at the foot of the page. | |||||||||||||||||||||
|
Links to more Scotland stories |
 | | ^^ Back to top News Front Page | World | UK | UK Politics | Business | Sci/Tech | Health | Education | Entertainment | Talking Point | In Depth | AudioVideo ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To BBC Sport>> | To BBC Weather>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- © MMIII|News Sources|Privacy  |
E-mail this story to a friend