Plans to extend Harryville protests
by Laura Friel
Catholic churches in Ballymoney and Coleraine have been
identified and may be picketed by loyalists determined to extend
their sectarian campaign at Harryville.
Last week loyalists gathered for a second week outside the
Catholic Church in the predominantly Protestant Harryville
estate. Saturday night Mass at the Church of Our Lady was
cancelled over the summer as a concilitary gesture towards
defusing tension. A loyalist at the picket admitted that ``many
Protestants are embarrassed'' by the picket but ``they are
determined to go on.'' To date the cost to the taxpayer of
loyalist pickets at Harryville has been estimated at £1.7
million.
Meanwhile, in a further outburst of sectarianism in Ballymena, a
Protestant family has been targeted by loyalists because they
rented a house to a Catholic tenant. In August the family's
hayshed and surrounding walls were daubed with hate graffiti. The
message was clear ``LVF, RIP, Houston's love Taggs(sic), Irish out
of Ulster, Scum and LVF shoots Taggs(sic)'' Last week, the family
was targeted again with an arson attack in which their hay shed
was burnt to the ground. 500 bales of hay were lost together with
an adjoining garage and family car.
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