Two held over Polish man's murder
A murder victim found lying beaten in a lane was Polish, it was confirmed tonight.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland said they were informing the 40-year-old man’s relatives.
Two men were arrested and were being questioned about the killing at the Serious Crime Suite in Antrim.
A PSNI spokesman said: “This is an active and ongoing investigation. Detectives are following a definite line of inquiry.”
The spokesman declined to detail the nationality of those arrested and would not say whether they were treating the murder in Newry, Co Down, as a race crime.
The body of the man was discovered off Upper Edward Street in the lane behind the city swimming pool just before 1am.
Newry mayor John Feehan said: “It is horrific, people are very, very alarmed at what has happened, it is not something we are used to happening in our area.
“We have a large community of Polish and Lithuanians and others and everyone gets on very well.
“There have never been any problems with any of our ethnic minorities, We have lots of people from various parts of Europe and the get on very well together.”
Mr Feehan, an SDLP member of the local council, said he hoped there would be no repercussions.
“My message to everyone is to be calm , don’t make any rash judgments , treat our ethnic community with the respect we have shown them all along.”
A post-mortem will be carried out later to establish the exact cause of death.
Detectives appealed for anyone with information or who witnessed suspicious activity to contact them.
They said they wanted to speak to anyone who was in the Upper Edward Street, Monaghan Street or Railway Avenue area any time from late last night through to the early hours of the morning.
They also appealed for information from anyone who may have seen an altercation or disturbance in the same vicinity.
The area remained sealed off all day while whited-boiler suited forensic experts combed the murder scene.
