Sectarian Attacks News in Brief

Armagh school damaged in attack

A Catholic secondary school was damaged in a sectarian arson attack shortly after midnight on Saturday 17 September. A storeroom at Drumcree College on the Moy Road in Portadown, containing books, papers and other school equipment was destroyed in the attack and two adjoining classrooms were damaged by smoke.

Estate targeted in sectarian campaign

Nationalist homes in Derry's Clooney Estate were targeted by unionist paint bombers on Wednesday 14 September. A number of homes at Curlew Way, Lapwing Way and Shearwater Way were damaged.

One householder whose home was damaged said the attacks were just the latest in a series of sectarian incidents. "It's blatant sectarianism. They know where the Catholics live and attack their homes. We are easy targets".

Woman's car ambushed

A Strabane woman, whose car was attacked as she drove to a bereavement counselling session in Derry's Foyle Hospice following the death of her husband three months ago, said she believes her car was singled out for attack by unionists because she was carrying a small Tyrone GAA flag.

The woman who wishes to remain anonymous said she had stopped at traffic lights in the unionist village of Newbuildings, on the outskirts of Derry, on Monday evening 12 September when she heard a loud bang.

"My first reaction was to get out and have a look at the tyres as I thought one of them had blown. It was then I saw the stone and the damage it had done to my car. These people are cowards, mindless thugs."

The attack follows another on a bus carrying Tyrone supporters to the All-Ireland Semi-Final. The bus was stoned by a group on unionists as it passed through Castlederg.

Paramilitary threat to GAA clubs

GAA clubs in County Derry have been warned to check their premises after the PSNI warned they are being targeted by loyalists.

Derry County board officials have contacted 18 clubs in the Magherafelt district after it emerged the loyalists intend scattering crushed glass on playing fields at club grounds across South Derry.