25 June 2013
Third petrol-bomb attack in a week on Short Strand
AFTER the third petrol-bomb attack in a week on the Short Strand on Monday night, Sinn Féin Councillor Niall Ó Donnghaile is calling on unionist politicians and community activists to show leadership to try prevent such incidents.
• In an attack last week, a four-year-old girl narrowly escaped serious injury when a device exploded near to her.
• On Sunday 23 June, six petrol-bombs were hurled at pensioners homes on Strand Walk.
• On Monday 24 June, homes on Bryson Street were targeted.
DUP leader Peter Robinson (right), an MLA for East Belfast, had time to comment of events in North Belfast but not his own constituency, Niall Ó Donnghaile complains.
The DUP MLA for the area “has yet to make comment on the behaviour of loyalist bandsmen who urinated against the gates of St Matthew’s Church last summer, two separate UVF-orchestrated attacks on Short Strand since June 2011 and the petrol bomb attack against homes in Short Strand”, Niall Ó Donnghaile says.
Ó Donnghaile praises those residents from the East Belfast interfaces who are meeting each other in an attempt to reduce tension. He said:
“After three months of failing this community during the flag protests, the PSNI must be seen to act, to deal with those hell-bent on attacking family homes. All residents – living on both sides of the interface – have to be able to live in peace in their own homes.
“Once again I am calling on the political leadership of unionism and loyalism to state clearly that these attacks must stop immediately.
“I have made it consistently clear that any attack at the interface, regardless of where it comes from, must be condemned and we must not allow elements from within loyalism to advance their own negative agenda as we head into the summer.
“Residents on both sides of the interface are bravely taking a lead in meeting and engaging directly – it’s time for others to follow that lead.”
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