North Belfast sectarian attacks continue.
By Stephen Delaney.
Loyalists were again on the rampage last Sunday 16 November when
a gang from the Tigers Bay area of North Belfast invaded the
grounds of the Holy Family Church on the Limestone Road during
12.30 mass and damaged the vehicles of massgoers then chased
young parishioners out of the church grounds into nearby
Clanchattan Street. The young boys escaped, however, when the
gang decided to attack nearby Catholic homes.
In one attack, 26 year old Madeline McGrath was hit on the head
by a full brick after, as she explained, ``one of the gang looked
me straight in the eye, smiled and lobbed the brick through the
living room window''. Ms McGrath was rushed to the Mater hospital
where she received six staples to a head wound.
Mark McGrath, Madeline's husband, said his two year old son could
have been killed as he was in his mothers arm's minutes before
the attack. He continued, ``I am very upset. I feel that the
police are not doing enough to protect this area. I am shocked
that a man could watch a woman standing by the window and
deliberately hurt her''.
The RUC were on the scene immediately yet, say residents, they
sat back and watched as the disturbances continuing for over half
an hour.
In the early hours of Monday morning in another notorious North
Belfast flashpoint, Rosapenna Street in the Oldpark area,
loyalists attacked the home of 60 year old Martha Hickey. Despite
smashing all the downstairs windows they were unable to enter the
house. Traces of blood at the scene indicate at least one person
was injured while doing so.
The arthritic pensioner said she was terrified by the attack. ``I
was in the house on my own. I went to bed just after 1 o'clock, I
heard the smashing. After the attackers left, I went downstairs
and all four windows were smashed and my front door had been
hammered in''. This is the second sectarian attack on Mrs Hickey's
home this year. ``I used to live in another house on this street,
it was attacked 5 times, now the first two houses on this street
have security grilles and I'm the first one that doesn't. In the
last attack it took the Housing Executive six weeks to replace
the windows,'' she said.
Sinn Fein councillor for the area Mick Conlon was also critical
of the Housing Executive, accusing them of not treating their
tenants equally. He said, ``when windows in the loyalist Lower
Oldpark were broken earlier in the year the executive decided
within two days to install solid doors, reinforced glass, fire
blankets and ladders at the rear as an escape method.. Why not go
the whole way and give everyone equal status?''
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