Father and son clean Spanish Civil War memorial graffiti - BBC News
Police are hunting vandals who targeted the commemorative stone in Motherwell, Lanarkshire.
Steven McGowan and his son cleaned up the memorial on Sunday

A father and son have been praised for cleaning graffiti from a memorial to volunteers who fought against fascism in the Spanish Civil War.

Police are hunting vandals who defaced the commemorative stone in Duchess Park, Motherwell, North Lanarkshire.

It was daubed with the words "Franco" and "vermin" as well as what appear to be fascist symbols.

Steven McGowan and his six-year-old son cycled from Wishaw to scrub the paint from the memorial.

The memorial is dedicated to Lanarkshire volunteers who went to Spain to fight against General Franco from 1936-39.

On Sunday, Mr McGowan was thanked on social media for taking it upon himself to removed the graffiti.

He said he did it as an exercise to teach his son "right from wrong".

MSPs condemned the desecration of the stone. Clare Adamson, SNP MSP for Motherwell and Wishaw, said on Twitter that she was "absolutely gutted to see this on a memorial".

The memorial vandalism was reported to police on Saturday.

Gillian Mackay, Scottish Green MSP for Central Scotland, posted: "This graffiti appearing weeks before annual commemorations is particularly callous.

"The right-wing nature of it is concerning. I'll shortly be in touch with the committee at the park to see what support they need."

A North Lanarkshire Council spokesman said: "We're very sad to learn the Spanish Civil War Memorial at the Duchess of Hamilton Park in Motherwell has been subject to an appalling act of vandalism."

A Police Scotland spokeswoman said the incident was reported to them on Saturday and inquiries were continuing.