Magpie Street protest hit by vandalism

SIGNS protesting the loss of community park space in Mt Pleasant were vandalised recently, five years after they were put up.

Both signs were originally attached to Magpie Street resident, Peter Willis’s front fence, directly opposite Sovereign Hill’s staff carpark.

One sign was fully torn away – disappearing – while another larger sign that said, ‘PARK FOR THE PEOPLE,’ was only ripped away on one side.

Mr Willis described the vandalism as “pathetic and antisocial,” hearing his missing sign might have been sighted at a local pub. Wanting the incident on record, he has contacted local police.

When the Golden Point State School closed in 1991, Mr Willis began his hard-fought campaign to look after Mt Pleasant’s public spaces, including the school oval. The oval, which had been a recreational area for the community, is now covered in houses.

To Mr Willis, it was the first link in a chain of many “repeatedly dispiriting” losses of community space. One of his neighbours recently returned a protest sign they had hung at their own home, no longer wanting to be involved and intimidated by the politics.

He said the community will continue putting other signs up regardless, but the whole process has been “demoralising.”