Londonderry: Teenagers arrested over disability centre arson attack
- Published
Police said the fires were being treated as "deliberate ignition"
Two teenage boys aged 15 and 13 have been arrested following an arson attack at a disability centre in Londonderry.
Two fires were reported at the premises, one under a set of stairs and one in the kitchen, at about 07:10 GMT on Saturday.
The teenagers have been arrested on suspicion of arson and two counts of burglary.
Sergeant Michael Hughes said the incident was being treated as "deliberate ignition".
Police said entry was gained to the North West Learning Disability Centre, with a sum of money believed to have been taken from a till.
The teenagers have also been arrested in relation to a burglary at a fast food outlet between 05:10 and 05:25 GMT on Saturday.
Police said the fires were being treated as "deliberate ignition"
Dermot O'Hara, chief executive of Destined, the charity which runs the centre and employs adults with learning disabilities, said it could take "six to nine months for us to get back in action".
"[They] pulled out water pipes and flooded the place and then set a number of fires to try and burn the building down and very nearly succeeded.
"The kitchen and our cafe area are totally vandalised, the people busted in the door and came in and wrecked the place," he said.
"The kitchen is totally ruined so we're going to have to replace the whole kitchen, the whole café."
'Devastated'
The mayor of Derry City and Strabane, Michaela Boyle, said she was shocked and saddened and asked people to help with a clean-up on Sunday morning.
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Sinn Féin MLA Karen Mullan condemned the incident, saying the community would be "rightly devastated".
"This centre not only provides activities and programmes for young people and adults with learning disabilities, it's a social economy providing employment," she added.
DUP MLA Garry Middleton said the incident was disgraceful.
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The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service extinguished the fires at the scene. No one was in the building at the time.