9 June 2005 Edition

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Loyalists use electoral information to target

Two Sinn Féin supporters' homes and a car in Coleraine were attacked by unionist paramilitaries at around midnight on Monday 6 June.

The names of those targeted appeared on a list of ten people circulated in the County Derry town over the last number of days and has raised concerns that the loyalists involved may be planning more attacks.

Adding to the concerns of nationalists is the fact that the lists being circulated on fly posters contain the names and addresses of Sinn Féin supporters who either proposed or seconded Sinn Féin candidates in May's elections.

In the first attack, at Blackthorn Court on Harpur's Hill Estate, a petrol bomb was thrown at a car, causing scorch damage to the rear of the vehicle, while minutes later another homeowner at Quickthorn Place found a bottle of flammable liquid had been thrown at the house but failed to ignite.

"It is a worrying development that posters and lists with reference to individuals who proposed or seconded Sinn Féin candidates in the recent elections have appeared around the area, but if this is a further attempt to intimidate Sinn Féin from representing their electorate it will not work," said Coleraine Sinn Féin Councillor Billy Leonard

Local councils in the North are legally bound to make public the names of those who are standing for local and Westminster elections and the names of the people who support candidates in their election bids.

Meanwhile, loyalists are believed to be behind a sectarian attack in the Castlereagh area of East Belfast, when two cars were set on fire and sectarian slogans were painted on two adjacent flats at Whitecroft Road at around 3am on Saturday 4 June.


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