'ORANGE LINE' - TEN YEARS ON

Unionist paramilitaries have declared Protestant housing estates
to be no-go areas for Catholics.

In a statement to mark the 10th anniversary of its (unobserved)
ceasefire, the UDA said it was drawing an 'Orange line' around
Protestant areas because of the growth of the nationalist
community.

While the UDA has been involved in sectarian interface violence
in a number of areas in north and east Belfast in recent years,
the warning covers areas such as Derry's Waterside, south Derry
and south-east Antrim.

"We have declared an Orange line around all Protestant areas,"
the UDA/ UFF statement said.

"Whilst we realise that one community is growing faster than the
other, we cannot allow another garden, another house or another
street to be attacked.

"We can ensure to the utmost of our ability that loyalists will
not breach the orange line. Will republicans do the same?"

SDLP leader Mark Durkan accused the UDA of "fascism".

"No-one has the right to tell others where they can and cannot
go, where they can live or how to lives their lives," Mr Durkan
said. "Their agenda is not just threats to another community but
control of their own."

Belfast deputy mayor Joe O'Donnell, who represents the isolated
nationalist Short Strand enclave in east Belfast also accused
the UDA of threatening Catholics.

"For years the UDA has engaged in sectarianism and racism and
now it is imposing physical apartheid," he said. "This is Nazism
at its most base."

A so-called UDA 'brigadier' later denied that the statement
threatened nationalists, only those involved in "republican
attacks".

Meanwhile, sectarian attacks on nationalist homes have
continued. On Tuesday afternoon loyalists used derelict houses
at the Limestone Road peaceline in north Belfast to attack
nationalist homes in Newington.

Some climbed onto a roof and used hammers to smash windows of
the home of a terrifyied a young family.


'TURKS OUT'

And last night, unionist gangs targeted members of the Turkish and
Indian communities.

'Turks Out' was daubed on victims' homes in Comber, County Down,
echoing the more familiar anti-Catholic 'Taigs Out'.

In the dead of night, bricks were thrown through the windows of
cars while racist graffiti was painted on the homes.

The UDA have carried out such attacks in the past.

Nationalist SDLP representative Joe Boyle said those responsible
were "pathetic bigots".

"This is yet another shameful attack on ethnic communities in
Northern Ireland," he said.

"Those responsible are pathetic bigots who prey on innocent
people. They are racist bullies who bring a bad name on Northern
Ireland.

"My thoughts are with the Turkish and Indian communities at this
time and I want them to know that the thugs responsible for this
intimidation do not represent the wider community here."