Sinn Féin backs Belfast anti-racism march

Thousands of protesters are expected to join a massive anti-racism march and rally at Belfast's City Hall on Saturday 30 October.

Organisers of the No Excuses rally say dozens of organisations, including the Chinese Welfare Association, the Belfast Jewish community, the Indian Community Centre and the Belfast Islamic Society are all lending support to the rally.

West Belfast Sinn Féin Councillor Paul Maskey said it is very important for people across the Six Counties to come out and support the rally.

Maskey said that although the majority of racist attacks are occurring in South Belfast, there has been a dramatic increase in race hate crime across the North.

"We have to show these racist thugs that we should be intergrating ethnic minority communities instead of isolating them. The people of West Belfast know, more than most, what it is like to be discriminated against and I would call on everyone to come and show the bigots that they have no place in our society."

The West Belfast section of the march will leave Roden Street and Grosvenor Road at 1.15pm and proceed to the University of Ulster Art College in York Street, where the main march will walk to City Hall for the rally.

It has also been revealed that far right neo-nazi groups are taking advantage of unionist paramilitary intimidation of ethnic minority groups in the North to try and gain a foothold.

The disclosue came as the British parliamentary watchdog committee, the 'Northern Ireland' Affairs Committee (NIAC) held hearings in Belfast City Hall on Monday 25 October into hate crimes in the North.

Northampton South MP Tony Clarke said it was clear that some racist attacks were feulled by paramilitaries engaged in protection rackets.

"One of the key issues for us is... there are those taking advantage of some of that activity to infiltrate North of Ireland society and we are trying to find out who is operating there."

Clarke went on to say that the committee was distressed to hear the North of Ireland described as the "race hate capital of Europe".

The committee was taking evidence from representatives of ethnic minority groups and met with PSNI supremo Hugh Orde to ask about the PSNI's response to the growing problem of racism.

Since April 2003, there have been 226 reported incidents of racist attacks to the PSNI, the majority orchestrated by unionist paramilitaries, but there have only been five prosecutions.

Members of ethnic communities, especially in South Belfast, have left their homes after being forced out by members of the UVF and UDA.

A few weeks ago, UVF paramilitaries forced the Chinese community to abandon plans for a community and resource centre in the loyalist Donegall Pass area, after it was revealed that members of the UVF had been visiting estate agents in South Belfast warning them not to move any more Chinese people into the area.