Residents forced out

Six nationalist residents say they will be moving out of their homes in Glandore Avenue, North Belfast, after a campaign of intimidation.

The six people, who live in three separate flats, say that after a friend of theirs was attacked by a gang of up to 30 drunken loyalists on Saturday 24 April and windows were smashed in their flats, they have decided that, "enough is enough".

One resident, who had his nose broken during the incident, told the media: "We have all been living here for three years but these sectarian attacks are just getting worse. We have had to replace our downstairs windows at least three times and they were broken again at the weekend. I was assaulted myself last week and had my nose broken after loyalists threw a full bottle of beer at my face. The week before they broke my car windscreen."

The man said that during the incident the loyalists were milling about hurling sectarian abuse at residents when a PSNI Land Rover came on the scene.

"I told the PSNI I could identify the ones who carried out the attack on me but they said they just wanted statements," he said.

No arrests were made and the man's attackers jeered as he was taken to hospital by ambulance.

On the same day, a gang of Linfield soccer fans got off their bus and attacked a Catholic man at Fortwilliam shops at around 5pm.

In recent weeks, a Catholic postal worker almost lost an ear after he was attacked by two loyalist youths as he walked home along Glandore Avenue. The loyalists called him a "fenian bastard" before beating him viciously to the ground with bottles and bricks.