Pride organiser condemns ‘abhorrent’ homophobic and racist graffiti scrawled on Morecambe Prom before festival

Police are now investigating after the graffiti appeared overnight on Friday.

The graffiti - which included homophobic slurs and the Nazi swastika - appeared on the sea wall along the Promenade, and on 'Welcome to Morecambe' and 'Keep Morecambe clean' notices, overnight on Friday, as well as the 'Take the Plunge' and 'Fantastic Morecambe' murals in the central Promenade area.

It was either covered or removed by city council staff on Saturday morning, and reported to the police.

Morecambe Pride took place as planned on Saturday, beginning with a parade along the prom from the Battery and live entertainment in the Bay Arena next to the Midland Hotel.

During the parade, a man and a woman were heard shouting homophobic and other offensive slurs.

The parade was temporarily halted while event organisers spoke to the police, who are now investigating.

Robert Mee, organiser of Morecambe Pride, said he felt "broken" to see the graffiti after putting in months of hard work to organise the event.

He was left feeling “very intimidated” by a man shouting abuse during the parade.

"It proves that Pride is absolutely needed," he said.

"It's the first time I've felt concerned at an event for the people I'm looking after. I've never seen it on that scale. It was really frightening.

"The graffiti and abuse we suffered was abhorrent.

"The whole thing has left me feeling quite broken. We’ve spent months trying to create something brilliant.

"A lot of really good people helped us, members of the public. The council reacted quickly, they were brilliant at covering up the graffiti and many members of the public helped us to hide the images with flags etc, so most people in the parade didn't see it.

"I don't want to catastrophise what happened because it gives the people who did it power, and I don't want to do that."

Coun Joanne Ainscough, a Morecambe councillor and cabinet member on Lancaster City Council, said: "Absolutely disgusting to see that someone has sprayed homophobic and racist graffiti overnight, the night before Morecambe Pride. It shows that Pride is still very much needed."

County Coun Lizzi Collinge said: "It was extremely disturbing to see what seems to be a targeted hate attack against Morecambe Pride."

Skerton councillor Jean Parr added: "Dreadful stuff at Morecambe Pride today. Our local council workers were brilliant at cleaning off or covering truly awful graffiti."

European Pride Organisers Association posted on Facebook: "Appalling Nazi grafitti appeared across Morecambe, England, ahead of Morecambe Pride on Saturday.

"We send our solidarity to the Pride team and demand Lancashire Police bring those responsible to justice."

The city council's public realm staff were praised for their "rapid removal" of the graffiti.

A Lancashire Police spokesman said: "The incident was reported to us and the graffiti was swiftly removed by our colleagues from the local authority.

"Lancashire Constabulary will not tolerate any form of hate and this matter is being thoroughly investigated.

"Anyone with information or footage which could assist our enquiries is asked to email [email protected] or call 101, quoting log 476 of July 29, 2023."