Loyalist violence escalates

A 12 year old girl from North Belfast was the victim of a vicious sectarian attack on Sunday.

At 5pm yesterday, as she and her mother were walking in the Whitewell Road area, a gang of teenagers jumped her and kicked Megan Brown in the face while shouting sectarian abuse.

Megan said: “I was walking home from the Abbey Centre with my mummy, I was a little bit in front of her.

“There was a crowd of about five wee boys and three wee girls, I didn’t pay any attention until one of the girls jumped on my back and pulled me down.

“When I was down the others all came round and they were kicking me in the face and stamping on my back, they were shouting at me ‘don’t you dare walk down this road, you Fenian B’.

“I was terrified because they would not stop. My whole face and back is very sore today and I do not want to have to leave the house.”

Megan, a pupil at the Little Flower School in Belfast, was taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital where she was treated for six hours for facial and back injuries including bruising and swelling.

Her mother Anne-Marie Brown today spoke of her anger following the attack.

“Because Megan was walking a few yards in front of her brothers and sisters and me they thought she was on her own.

“It was definitely a sectarian attack because of what they shouted and afterwards they ran off into the White City.”

There have been fears that tensions at the sectarian interface could again reignite this summer over the Protestant marching season. The Brown family is already considering a move away from the area.

Sinn Fein Councillor Carol Cullen described the sectarian attack on a young girl in North Belfast as ‘outrageous’ and ‘deeply worrying’.

* The unionist paramilitary UDA has denied it was involved in the death of Ardoyne man Stephen Montgomery in Belfast last month. It has been alleged that the group, under the cover of the ‘Red Hand Defenders’, were involved in the hit-and-run, which the victim’s family believes was murder. The UDA also stated that the ‘Red Hand Defenders’ no longer exists.

* The unionist paramilitary LVF has not commented on allegations it was involved in the disappearance of Bangor woman Lisa Dorrian last month. Walls have been daubed in the village of Ballyhalbert, where Ms Dorrian was last seen, suggesting the involvement of a local LVF drugs gang in her disappearance.

* A petrol bomb was thrown into the loyalist Newtownards area of east elfast and six cars were set alight on Sunday. The disturbances follow trouble in the area on Friday night which erupted during a search of a house under licensing laws. A gambling machine and alcohol were seized during the raid.

Urgent Appeal