It was while he was lying on the ground that one of the loyalists hacked at the Short Strand man with a machete-type knife, leaving him with deep wounds on his arms, face, back and stomach.
O'Hara says he would have been killed except that neighbours ran out of their homes and chased the two loyalists. The local people pursued the pair, who tried to escape through the grounds of St Matthew's church. The RUC who then arrived at the scene, arrested one man.
28 year-old David Samuel Armstrong, of Station Road Belfast, appeared in Belfast's Magistrate's Court on Saturday, 20 November, charged in connection with the attack.
``I could not praise my neighbours highly enough, they saved my life. It's a great locality the Short Strand - they have lived through this kind of thing for so long,'' said O'Hara, who went on to accuse some loyalist politicians of ``whipping people into a frenzy''.
Sinn Féin Short Strand representative Joe O'Donnell said: ``This was a disgusting attack on an ordinary nationalist resident. It was without doubt purely sectarian. I am calling on all politicians with any influence to do all in their power to prevent these incidents. It is time for a clear signal to be sent to the perpetrators of such crimes. They are unacceptable.''
Meanwhile, there is speculation that the LVF may have been involved in the attack.
The attack on Michael O'Hara was the latest in a long line of incidents in the nationalist enclave during the past number of months, including two pipe bomb attacks, six petrol bomb attacks, and the hanging of a loyalist flag on the spire of St Matthew's church. Three weeks ago, two British soldiers were caught by local republicans after they had joined with a loyalist gang to attack the area.