Cardiff Bay: 'Rage' after Merchant Navy memorial urinated on

The Merchant Seaman's Memorial in Cardiff Bay was urinated on and surrounded by smashed beer bottles

A man in the Merchant Navy feels "filled with rage" after seeing illegal partygoers in Cardiff Bay urinate on a memorial to merchant seamen.

Bradley Jones has been down to clean the memorial - also surrounded by broken bottles on Friday night - saying he "wouldn't have been able to sleep".

Mr Jones, a tugboat mate, called on Cardiff Council to "fully protect" The Merchant Seaman's Memorial.

The council has now erected security fencing around the memorial.

Cardiff Bay has already seen chaos over the Easter bank holiday weekend, with thousands of people drinking and gathering illegally at the steps of the Senedd.

Mr Jones, whose father and uncles were also in the Merchant Navy, said he was sent pictures and videos of the memorial from Friday night because of his connections to it and that it "really distressed" him.

He said: "I can only describe it as an internal rage, because that memorial is not only a memorial for people we have lost but it's also a memorial for people who don't have a grave or who were lost at sea.

"It is a place where their family go to and remember them.

Cardiff council has responded to the problems by erecting a security fence around the memorial

"People urinated on it and smashed glass and people just generally disrespected it there.

"It was really, really painful for me, and it will be painful for a lot people in the Merchant Navy and a lot of people in the general public."

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Mr Jones, 25, went down to the area earlier after police were forced to disperse large crowds from the immediate area on Friday night.

Bradley Jones (middle) has family members in the Merchant Navy, including uncles Steve Spear (left) and Michael Spear

He said he felt "like he needed to go down there" to see if there was any permanent damage and to do what he could to clean up.

"I went down there because I just wouldn't be able to go home to sleep, knowing that," he said.

"The mess was still there, and even though it'd be gone in five or six hours I just wouldn't rest easy until that area was clean.

"It took me half an hour, I went away still filled with rage, but you know I've done a small part of what I could do, and I just felt that.

"I'm just calling on the council to fully protect that memorial which is effectively a grave for those who were lost at sea."

The Merchant Seaman's Memorial is in the form of a sleeping face fused with a ship's hull, made by riveting plates of metal together

Mr Jones said he knows that "90% of young people are respectful" but that the 10% need to "know that you have that freedom to act in that stupid way because those people lost their lives".

The council said the protective fencing around the memorial was erected after teams worked for hours to clean up the bay area.

"Last night, bins were left unused and the ground was littered with rubbish. Council staff have been on site since the early hours of the morning, working hard to clear and clean the area," it added.