Mourners start drawing almost 150,000 hearts in London to remember COVID victims

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Volunteers and relatives of bereaved paint hearts along a wall beside St Thomas' hospital as a memorial to all those who have died so far in the UK from COVID-19, amid the spread of the coronavirus disease pandemic in London, Britain, March 29, 2021. REUTERS/Toby Melville

 

LONDON (Reuters) - A campaign group for bereaved families has begun hand-drawing almost 150,000 hand-drawn hearts on a wall opposite Britain's Houses of Parliament as a memorial to victims of the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

The mural is expected to stretch for hundreds of metres along the southern bank of the River Thames outside St Thomas’ hospital, where Prime Minister Boris Johnson was put in an intensive care unit after he contracted the virus and fell seriously ill last year.

 

It has been organised by the group Covid-19 Bereaved Families For Justice UK, which has called for a public inquiry into the government’s handling of the pandemic.

 

A campaign group for bereaved families has begun hand-drawing almost 150,000 hand-drawn hearts on a wall.

 

"Each heart is individually hand-painted (and) utterly unique, just like the loved ones we’ve lost," said Matt Fowler, co-founder of the group. "Like the scale of our collective loss, this memorial is going to be enormous."

 

Britain's government has promised to build a permanent memorial once the pandemic is over.

 

(Reporting by Toby Melville; writing by Andrew MacAskill; editing by Michael Holden)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-03-31

 

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[PETERTHEEATER]

Under the Criminal Damage Act 1971, anyone caught doing graffiti can face a prison sentence of up to ten years or fined if the damage costs more than £5,000. 

 

How is 'painting hearts' on a hospital wall different? Answers, on a postcard please, to Boris Johnson........

[from the home of CC]

perhaps they should wait, it's not quite at the finish line yet..

[soalbundy]

How utterly pointless, devoid of any meaning.

[7by7]

2 hours ago, PETERTHEEATER said:

Under the Criminal Damage Act 1971, anyone caught doing graffiti can face a prison sentence of up to ten years or fined if the damage costs more than £5,000. 

 

How is 'painting hearts' on a hospital wall different? Answers, on a postcard please, to Boris Johnson........

 

Your uncredited quote from The Sun does not tell the whole story.

 

What it doesn't say is that even if prior permission is neither sought nor granted, if the owner of the property has no objection then the graffiti is not illegal. Unless the words or images incite an offence under the Public Order Act 1986. 

 

The wall concerned is on the Albert Embankment outside St. Thomas'. I don't know who owns that wall, the hospital or Lambeth Council. But if the owner has no objections, and why would they have, then it is not illegal. 

 

Just as the graffiti like that covering the wall outside Abbey Road studios is not illegal; just as the graffiti by people such as Banksy is not illegal

 

For more, see What is Graffiti? Note, this is the law in England and Wales, though that in Scotland and Northern Ireland is very similar.

[7by7]

2 hours ago, soalbundy said:

How utterly pointless, devoid of any meaning.

 

Not to the organisers and others who have lost loved ones.