by Marianne Flood
A Derry anti-Brexit pressure group has accompanied a Polish immigrant on the first leg of her 200 mile protest run of the Irish border.
Fine art student Aleks Stanek, who has been living in the North since 2005, began her eight day run on Saturday at the border with Muff from the old Customs Post at Muff village on the Donegal side of the Derry/Donegal border, as part of her quest to run the length of the border to highlight the problems she believes Brexit will bring.
She said the run is designed to highlight the invisible border which could be replaced by a visible one after Brexit.
Ms Stanek was accompanied by a group of runners from Border Communities Against Brexit (BCAB) to show their solidarity.
The route took them to Bridgend, Killea, Carrigans, St Johnston, Rateen, Ross Downs, Murlog, Lifford, before finishing in Strabane.
During the event she repeatedly crossed the border and buried the rubble of Belfast brick and ash tree seeds at unmarked spots.
“The broken bricks symbolise uncertainty faced by Northern Irish industries following last year’s referendum result,” she explained.
“The permanence of borders, whether physical or imaginary, will be reflected by the budding growth of ash tree seeds.”
Dermot O’Hara, Derry spokesperson for Border Communities Against Brexit, said the group is concerned the North’s remain vote will not be respected.
“We are really worried about the devastating impact that Brexit will have in this region and we want to make sure our voices are heard when decisions are being taken in Dublin, London and Brussels.
“We are looking for people from all communities and sectors who agree with us on this to become involved with us in this campaign.
“If Brexit goes ahead it will be the ordinary people in our communities who will pay the price – through jobs losses, loss of farm incomes, barriers to our kids third level education and the loss of vital EU Peace funding.
“A new EU frontier, stretching from Dundalk to Derry, is not something we cannot accept.
“We know from experience that a hard border in Ireland would create real hardship particularly for people in this region who cross the border on a daily basis.”
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