Fury as vandals paint 'No God' across graves in historic city centre cemetery

Monuments in Glasgow Necropolis defaced by anti-religious graffiti

Memorial to church reformer John Knox was targeted by vandals



Vandals have sparked outrage by defacing historic graves in a major cemetery, painting the words 'No God' on monuments and headstones.



Glasgow residents and tourists spoke of their fury at the thuggish graffiti covering parts of the city's Necropolis.



One of the monuments targeted was a memorial to famed religious reformer John Knox, at the cemetery's highest point overlooking the rest of the city.



Graffiti: Historic graves in the Glasgow Necropolis have been defaced with the message 'No God'

Around a dozen gravestones near the statue were also defaced with the anti-religious scrawls.



In addition, the lodge at the entrance to the Victorian Necropolis had swastikas scrawled into its wooden doors.

Glasgow City Council has sent a team of workers to clean up the mess - and is now being urged to take further steps to secure the cemetery.



Local resident Lesley Naughton said: 'I think it is disgusting. There are people buried in there, so it is absolutely disrespectful for people to be vandalising or spray painting on the gravestones.



'It is such a nice place for the public to visit. We need to get the message out that it is not OK for people to act like this. I think there should be more patrols looking out for this sort of thing.'



Well-known: The statue of religious reformer John Knox was one of the memorial targeted

Fury: Locals and tourists have called for greater action by the city council to safeguard the graves

Student Keiran Kerr said he was worried that tourists would be more likely to remember the vandalism than the historic charms of the cemetery itself.



'It's mindless vandalism,' he said. 'I don't think there's any point of it. It's one of the things that people will remember.



'And the tourists will think about the graffiti over anything else. It's just thoughtless.'



Jennifer Link, who was visiting Glasgow with her husband, said: 'It's a shame.



'We think it's a beautiful place. It spoils it a bit and we're sad to see it but it's how things are these days.'



Sick: This is not the first time the historic cemetery has been hit by malicious vandalism

Picturesque: The beautiful site was ruined by the actions of the unknown vandals

Around 50,000 people have been laid to rest at the 37-acre Necropolis, which is behind Glasgow Cathedral, and 3,500 tombs have been built there.



Some of the monuments were created by renowned designers including Alexander 'Greek' Thomson and Charles Rennie Mackintosh.



In July 2011, it was reported that Nazi symbols and racial abuse were spray painted on to gravestones in the cemetery.



Crucifixes, stone angels, graves and other stone monuments were also thrown over and smashed in the wrecking spree.



The Necropolis has also been targeted more than once by vandals on quad bikes, turning it into a dirt track.



A Glasgow City Council spokesman said the graffiti removal team immediately dealt with the vandalism.

