Irisch Republikanische Solidarität








TC

HATE TURNS TO RACISM




The PSNI police have been accused of racism amid a loyalist
pogrom against ethnic minorities in south Belfast.

On Wednesday night, an eight-and-a-half months pregnant
Pakistani woman and her brother-in-law were left badly shaken
when their home was attacked on the Donegall Road.

A 6ft wooden plank was pushed through a double-glazed window,
showering glass over the living room area where they had been
eating.

It is understood that the family had moved into the terraced
house in the loyalist Village district just hours earlier.

Several families have been attacked in the Donegall Road and
Village areas of south Belfast in recent weeks, with members
of the Chinese and Ugandan communities among those singled
out.

And it has now emerged the offices of a Belfast estate agent
were petrol-bombed after he was ordered not to rent homes to
members of the Chinese or black community.

William Faulkner was critical of the PSNI police, accusing
them of allowing the situation to deteriorate.

While he said there was more of a police presence now in the
area, he believed "they let it go too far before they did
anything about it".

"I do believe that, if it continues on, there is somebody who
is going to be burnt alive in a house or murdered," he said.

South Belfast Sinn Fein Assembly member Alex Maskey said that
he is seeking urgent meetings with British minister Jane
Kennedy to discuss the ongoing campaign against ethnic
minorities in the area.

Mr Maskey said: " So far we have heard nothing from her on
this issue or seen no decisive action from her department," he
said. "If this situation is not tackled then it is very clear
that the people behind this campiagn of intimidation and
violence will not stop until someone is killed."

The loyalist paramilitary UVF has been blamed for organising
extortion rackets focusing on Chinese-owned businesses in
south Belfast, andt the rival loyalist UDA has been
infiltrated by far-right groups like Combat 18.

The numbers of families forced from their homes in the Village
and Donegall Road areas is now in double figures, there has
been just one arrest and not a single conviction.

Alliance councillor Geraldine Rice claimed there would be no
confidence in the PSNI "unless there is a concerted effort to
bring the hate-filled racists behind these attacks to justice."

Letzte Änderung:
11-Jan-04