News in Brief 1

Harryville church attacked

Sectarian graffitti was daubed on the door of Our Lady's Catholic Church at Harryville in Ballymena in the early hours of Monday 10 July.

'Fuck the Pope' was painted across the front door of the church while fencing around the church was painted red, white and blue.

Sinn Féin Assembly member Philip McGuigan called on unionist polticians to speak out against the attacks.

Attempted murder in Ardoyne

Petrol bombers attempted to murder a nationalist couple in North Belfast on Sunday, 10 July. The couple were sleeping when the front window of their Ardoyne home was smashed and petrol poured into their living room before being set alight. The father of two and his wife were in bed in their Crumlin Road home at the time of the attack. The couple's home faces the Ardoyne shops along the contested Orange Order parade route.

Sinn Féin's Gerry Kelly described the attack as attempted murder and blamed unionist paramilitaries. "

Derry sectarian attacks continue

A Derry taxi driver has vowed never to work in the Waterside area of the city again after his cab was damaged in a sectarian attack.

The driver who wished to remain anonymous, told how he escaped serious injury along with a female passenger when his vehicle was struck by bottles and stones on Crescent Link shortly after 2.30am on Monday 11 July.

A number of missiles were thrown from at the car causing two large dents on the rear door.

"The people who carried out this sectarian attack targeted my car because I drive for a cityside firm. This is just the latest attack on our company and cityside taxi drivers in general by these mindless thugs. When I pick up a fare I don't ask whether the person is Catholic or Protestant".

The driver said the attack means he will no longer enter the Waterside area for work.

Racist attack in Portadown

Three loyalists were arrested after a Portuguese man was punched and kicked in a racist attack as he walked along Obins Street in Portadown on Saturday morning 9 July.

The 21-year-old migrant worker who lives in the nationalist Obins Street was verbally abused before being attacked by three men believed to have come from a nearby loyalist estate.

Unionist gang feud leaves second man dead

Nineteen- year-old man Craig McCausland, was the second fatality in the latest feuding between the UVF and the LVF.

McCausland was shot dead in a house in Dhu Varren Crescent in the Woodvale area of North Belfast in the early hours of Monday morning 11 July. The three gunmen involved are believed to be connected to the UVF.

The fatal gun attack followed a shooting near a bonfire on the Crumlin Road when on Sunday when 24 shots were fired at two men. One of those targeted was hit up to five times and is now in a critical condition in hospital.

The man who escaped uninjured in the first attack is thought to have been the intended target of the gunmen, believed to be LVF members.

Earlier on Sunday 10 July two housesin the Silverstream area were attacked by gunmen, although noone was injured. The LVF is also being blamed for these attacks.

The shootings are being linked to the ongoing feud between the UVF and the breakaway LVF which saw Jameson Lockhart shot dead on July 1 in East Belfast as he sat in the cab of his lorry.