Priest targeted in sectarian attack
THE HOME OF CATHOLIC priest Father Joe Coulter was the target of
a sectarian attack in the early hours of Sunday morning 4 May. Fr
Coulter narrowly escaped injury when a huge rock was hurled
through his sitting room window in the loyalist Newbuildings
village just outside Derry.
Sunday's attack was the fourth on Coulter's home in 12 year and
he described it as one of the ``nastiest experiences'' he has ever
suffered.
This latest attack comes amid rising tension in Newbuildings with
DUP councillor William Hay warning that villagers are threatening
to, ``physically'' keep Derry City supporters out and accused
supporters of the club of ``republican coat trailing''.
Meanwhile Fr Coulter has disclosed that up to sixty Catholic
families have been intimidated out of Newbuildings in the past
ten years. Speaking to the Derry Journal Coulter said that in one
case a ``man who lived in Newbuildings all his life had his
windows smashed 50 times''.
Speaking to An Phoblacht local government candidate for the
Waterside area Lynn Fleming said that the Newbuildings area had
``an on-going sectarian problem that was particularly bad for
families with children. Teenagers were living like prisoners as
they had to be kept indoors when they come home from school''.
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