‘Foreigners out’

A letter from the unionist paramilitary UDA has warned “foreigners” to leave the “Queen’s country” by Sunday.

The letter follows the flight of hundreds of eastern Europeans after their Belfast homes were attacked recently.

A note from the UDA’s youth wing to community organisations last week stated: “No sympathy for foreigners, get out of our Queen’s country before our bonfire night (July 11) and parade day (July 12). Other than that your building will be blown up.

“Keep Northern Ireland white. Northern Ireland is only for white British.”

The letter was received by the Belfast Islamic Centre, the Polish Association and Indian Community Centre. It was marked Ulster Young Militants and bore the logo of far-right group Combat 18.

The PSNI have typically claimed no organised group was behind the violence in south Belfast which sparked the departure of the Romanian Roma.

The North’s Council for Ethnic Minorities disputed that during a meeting in Belfast on Thursday.

Spokesman Patrick Yu said: “I think there is no doubt it was organised against those families.”

He said the latest letter was designed to scare people and pointed out that usually when an attack was planned the perpetrators issued no warning.

More than 50 eastern European families have fled the loyalist Village area of south Belfast in just three months, it has emerged.

Polish, Lithuanian and Hungarian families have been among those to leave the loyalist Village area in recent weeks.

The number is larger than the Romanian group that had to be dramatically repatriated last month following mob race attacks in the lower Lisburn Road area.

They left after being informed the state would not be able to provide the same level of support for them -- including food and police protection -- if they were targeted again.

“We need to see confidence-building in these communities. There have been no arrests and no prosecutions,” said Mr Yu.

Urgent Appeal