A new mural calling on people to join the terrorist UDA was painted over a piece of neutral street art containing children's names.

There was disquiet in the Glenfield estate in Carrickfergus yesterday when existence of the paramilitary recruitment mural emerged. Several residents spoken to by the Belfast Telegraph in the mainly loyalist estate said they were strongly against it.

Some were angry that the militaristic mural encouraging people to join an illegal terrorist organisation had been painted on a small building beside an electricity sub-station, which itself had been previously been painted with youth street art as part of a re-imaging project.

There have been calls for the UDA mural to be removed and the PSNI said it was "working with local authorities" to do so.

Residents were too scared to give their names yesterday, but many said they did not agree with the message the sinister mural conveyed.

One man said: "As you can see around here there are loads of murals, just as there are in loyalist areas across Northern Ireland, but this one was different as it is the first time that it actually calls on people to 'Join the UDA'.

"The UDA are meant to have stopped and they said they had decommissioned their weapons, so why would they want anybody to join? This is not the message that should be sent out to young people."

Yesterday hundreds of secondary school teenagers passed the mural in buses going to a schools' careers fair at the nearby Oakfield Community Development Centre, and the mural is also visible to children attending a nearby primary school.

At the careers fair one man said: "I noticed the new mural and it definitely sends out the wrong message and needs to be removed.

"It is in contrast to the good work that is going on the area trying to get young people jobs.

"A lot of good work goes on in the community and it is only a minority doing these murals, but people are afraid to speak out."

Alliance East Antrim MLA Stewart Dickson called for the removal of the mural.

He said: "This is a recruitment mural for the UDA. It is an illegal image for an illegal terrorist organisation.

"There is no place for images of masked gunmen on our streets. It is sending out the wrong message to our children."

Newtownabbey and Carrickfergus Area PSNI commander, Superintendant Stephen Reid, said: "Local officers are making inquiries to determine the owner of the building on which the mural has been placed with a view to launching an investigation. We will also be working with the local authorities to progress the removal of the mural."

Background

The mural says: 'Better to die on your feet than live on your knees in an Irish Republic. Join the UDA.' It is 100 metres from Oakfield Play Park. On a nearby fence graffiti states 'Burglars Beware. UDA', and a gable mural refers to South East Antrim loyalists.

Belfast Telegraph