Car rams tour bus

The bus, which was filled with tourists was rammed twice at Rossville Street, close to the Free Derry Corner in the Bogside, at about 12.15pm on Saturday, and the car driven by the rammers made off in the direction of the Brandywell.

The bus driver Dessie Lynch said it was terrifying for passengers.

"I looked in the mirror and the car went back out of the bus and rammed it again. The people were squealing and roaring," he said afterwards.

Alderman William Hay said the incident was "not what tourism wants".

"Incidents like this send out bad messages. As a city we should be welcoming tourists no matter where they come from. These type of incidents do not help people have a positive experience. Instead they will go home and tell their story which in this case will be a negative one. It has to be totally and utterly condemned," he said.

Mr Hay said that those responsible might view their actions as a joke, but it very much was not the case.

"It was not a joke to those people visiting this City and I am disgusted by how they have been treated. The culprits should be identified and punished for what they have done. There is no excuse for this kind of behaviour."

He continued: "We should be encouraging tourists to come here and we should all be making efforts to make them feel at home in every part of the City. We need to be encouraging people from all countries to come here and to revisit the City."

Alderman Mary Hamilton described those responsible for the ramming as "idiots", and called on the police to use CCTV to identify those responsible for the ramming and prosecute them.

"I would condemn any attack on any buses and not just tour buses. These people were out and about in our City with the sole intention of learning about our history and culture. They were contributing in a positive way to our tourism infrastructure and were out and about enjoying themselves when mindless idiots destroyed their day. They don't need that kind of treatment and I totally condemn those responsible. This kind of act does not send out a good image when we are trying to promote the City as the potential winner of the UK City of Culture competition," she said.

Foyle MP Mark Durkan said the local community was "shocked and disgusted".

"It is hard to fathom the mentality of those people who would ram a tour bus not only once, but twice," he said.

"I know that everyone in Derry will hope that those responsible for this attack will be caught and brought to justice as soon as possible."