Racists torch flats complex

Eight people, including a child, mostly Portuguese nationals, had a lucky escape after racist attackers set fire to a block of flats in Dungannon, County Tyrone in the early hours of Sunday morning.

A passing motorist spotted the blaze in bins outside the flats, off Irish Street in Dungannon town centre, at 4.30am and raised the alarm.

When they arrived at the scene, the fire service and PSNI discovered that an electrical junction box had also been set alight. Of the six flats in the building, most are occupied by foreign nationals.

Sinn Féin MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone Michelle Gildernew (left) hit out at the people behind the attack saying, "these flats were occupied and whoever attacked them could have caused the deaths of many people."

She called for an engagement between local community representatives and ethnic communities to ensure incidents like these do not happen.