Race hate attacks continue

Three Polish men were attacked in a public house in the Waterside area of Derry, the latest racist attack on the Polish community in the city in the last week.

The men were assaulted as they had a drink in the Upstairs Downstairs bar on the Dungiven Road at around 2.30am on Sunday 5 December.

The racist thugs set upon two of the Poles while the third was in the toilet. One man recieved 13 stitches to a facial wound after a glass was smashed in his face, while another sustained a suspected broken nose.

The attack came days after four members of the Polish community were forced to flee their home in the Pelham Road area, also in the Waterside.

The four, a married couple and two male relatives, packed their bags and left their home after racist thugs smashed the living room windows on Thursday night 2 December.

Caitriona Kordulla from the local Polish Welfare Association said the badly shaken victims were still coming to terms with their ordeal.

In recent months, there have been racist attacks in Belfast, Lurgan, Craigavon and other parts of the Six Counties.

On Saturday 4 December, a Portuguese man was manhandled and headbutted in a race hate attack during a Christmas party in the Leighinmohr Avenue area of Ballymena, County Antrim.