trim Sinn Féin Councillor Martin McManus is accusing "loyalist thugs" of upping the ante after graffiti threatening nationalist residents of the Stiles and Rathenraw estates in Antrim town appeared over the last week.
The painted slogans range from 'Kill all Taigs' to 'watch your back'. The names of local nationalists were written up alongside these threats. McManus is blaming the Stiles Young Defenders (SYD) and the UDA's youth wing, the UYM, of painting the graffiti.
The loyalists also wrote graffiti 'Up the hatchet team', glorifying the attack on Catholic teenager Michael Craig, who was attacked by a loyalist gang wielding a hatchet last August. The 15-year-old was almost killed in the attack.
People living in the Stiles and Rathenraw areas are demanding that Antrim Borough Council and all other relevant agencies take immediate measures to remove the sectarian threats.
"Too often, these hate slogans are left until members of the community or members of the families being threatened remove them themselves," said McManus.
"I have been a target of hate for the 'artists' also and I understand how people feel when their name appears on a wall next to a death threat."
The Sinn Féin councillor is now calling on all local political leaders to be "more vocal concerning this graffiti in Antrim Town."
Meanwhile, a young Catholic mother of two, Leeann Delaney, is accusing the UVF of driving her from her home in the Greystone estate in Antrim.
The young mother said that two men arrived at her house last week looking for her boyfriend's brother. When Leeann told the intruders that the man didn't live with her, she was told "to get out".
Sinn Féin's Martin Meehan has criticised unionist politicians for "glossing over" the plight of Catholics living in Antrim.
![[An Phoblacht]](http://republican-news.org/graphics/title_gifs/aprn.gif)
