Little Amal: Refugee puppet arrives in Londonderry

Crowds gathered in Guildhall Sqaure to welcome Little Amal

Londonderry has welcomed a giant puppet of a child refugee to the city during the latest leg of her tour of Northern Ireland.

Hundreds of people greeted Little Amal, a 10-year-old Syrian refugee whose name means 'hope' in Arabic, to the city on Monday afternoon.

Created by the Handspring Puppet Company, she stands at 12ft (3.7m) tall.

Artistic director, and Amal’s creator, Adrian Kohler said she represents the world’s many “isolated children, parentless children”.

She is raising awareness about the plight of child refugees.

"She does not speak, she does not understand English," he explained.

"The audience projects onto her their knowledge of a child that may be abandoned or in need of assistance. That’s how we hope she works."

Amal is the centrepiece of a performance art project, The Walk.

Organisers of the project say it aims to highlight the stories of the millions of displaced refugee children she represents.

Little Amal's visit began by crossing the city's Peace Bridge

She began her visit to Derry at Ebrington Square before making her way across the Peace Bridge to the Guildhall and onto Free Derry Corner.

Last week Amal spent four days in Belfast.

She goes to Newcastle next and then Newry before crossing the border to Dundalk and, eventually, Dublin.

Since 2021 she has visited 15 countries including Turkey, Greece, Ukraine, Italy, France and the US, and toured 160 towns.

She has, however, not been welcomed everywhere and was met with protests in Greece.