Top Issue 1-2024

4 June 2014

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Racist attacks: First Minister Peter Robinson ‘lit the fire’

• Forced to leave Parkmount Street in north Belfast after racist attacks

NEWS that First Minister Peter Robinson had publicly apologised to the North’s Muslim community over remarks he made about Islam comes too late for two Pakistani men who decided to leave their north Belfast home after a double racist attack on Sunday 1 June.

Robinson made his long-overdue public apology on Tuesday 3 June after he met leaders of the North’s Muslim community in the Belfast Islamic Centre.

Speaking in the aftermath of the double attack on his Tiger’s Bay home, 24-year-old Muhammad Asif Khattak said First Minister Peter Robinson “lit the fire” when he supported the remarks of fundamentalist Christian preacher James McConnell, who described Islam as “satanic” and “heathen”.

This attack on Khattak’s home is the third racist outrage in Belfast against people from ethnic groups since the Christian preacher delivered his sermon in the Whitewell Tabernacle Church on 18 May.

On Friday 23 May, Fazal Ur Rehman, from Pakistan, and his Polish wife Noorulain were targeted in their home in east Belfast’s Foxglove Street.

On Friday afternoon, Rehman was racially abused by a number of teenagers as he stood in his doorway. At 11pm that night, the Pakistani national heard a bang on his front door. When he investigated the bang, he discovered that his Polish neighbour’s window had been smashed also. He believes the attackers mistook the neighbour’s window for his.

The attack on Muhammad Asif Khattak and his companion began with an incident in the early hours of Sunday morning 1 June when a bottle was hurled through the front window of their home in the unionist Tiger’s Bay area. The 24-year-old said he was scared and contacted the PSNI.

Muhammad Asif Khattah sweeps up broken glass at his home

Muhammad Asif Khattah sweeps up broken glass at his home

It was later that day, at about 3:15pm, just after he spoke to the media, that Khattak and his housemate were assaulted by a number of men who had gathered outside the property.

The unionist gang shouted racist abuse at the Pakistani nationals before forcing their way into their Parkmount Street home.

Khattak was treated in hospital for a foot injury as well as cuts and bruises.

Meanwhile, an attack on the car and home of an Eastern European couple in Pearl Street, east Belfast, on 8 May have also come to light.

On Saturday 24 May, a 35-year-old African man was beaten about the head on the Lagan Towpath in south Belfast by two men aged about 18 and 22 hurling racist abuse.

David Finn (22), from Armagh, has been charged with assaulting Tonderai Msonza and threatening to kill him.

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Contributions from key figures in the churches, academia and wider civic society as well as senior republican figures

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