A ROMA charity has called for community support after a Holocaust memorial was vandalised for the third time.

Young people from the Roma communities in Govanhill had worked to have the Romani Rose Tree Memorial installed in Queen's Park in 2019.

But today locals spotted that the poignant tribute to the thousands of Roma people murdered in concentration camps has been desecrated yet again.

Jim Monaghan, Director of the Board of Trustees at Romano Lav, said the vandalism is "deeply disappointing".

He said: "We are deeply disappointed that this has happened yet again.

"It is disrespectful to hundreds of thousands of Roma and Sinti people who were murdered by the Nazis."

Glasgow Times:

Vandals have sprayed the Southside memorial with letters and symbols in yellow paint.

It was installed in the park on August 2 to mark Roma Holocaust Memorial Day.

The commemoration remembers the day in 1944 when more than 4000 Roma people were murdered at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

The tribute was first damaged in November 2019 when the rose tree that had been planted by the plinth was destroyed. 

In January the following year, thanks to Romano Lav and support from Glasgow City Council, the memorial was replaced.

But in June 2020 thugs again ripped the rose tree from the memorial, snapping it at the base and removing it. 

This time, Jim vowed that Romano Lav, a Govanhill charity, will clean up the mess - and called for community backing to respect the memorial.

He added: "We will clean up the damage and start again but hope that our community will get behind Romano Lav in honouring this memorial and, in future, join with us to respect the memory of those who died."