Fresh racist intimidation has appeared across several loyalist areas in the wake of the recent anti-immigrant violence that swept through parts of the north, with new incidents in Newtownards, Moygashel, Dungannon, Derry and Rathcoole underlining the organised nature of the campaign directed against migrant communities.

In Newtownards, swastikas, crosshairs and “whites only” graffiti were daubed close to a primary school while a banner displaying an image of the stabbing of Stephen Ogilvie was erected nearby. The material remained visible days after it first appeared.

A local resident described herself as “appalled” and said allowing such messages to remain visible “sends entirely the wrong signal”.

“This is not about politics; it is about basic decency. Every child and every family should be able to walk through their community without being confronted by messages of hatred and exclusion.”

The incidents are the latest in a chain of racist actions centred overwhelmingly on loyalist areas.

In Moygashel, anti-Muslim banners have repeatedly been erected at a children’s playpark despite being removed several times by police. Similar displays have now appeared in Dungannon. The signs carried the message “not welcome, not wanted, not here” and portrayed Muslims as a threat to the community.

In Derry, loyalist agitation spilled over into public violence at a meeting of a community group, North West Migrants Forum. Far-right agitator Stephen Nigel Thompson, of so-called ‘Walled City Patriots’, barged into the meeting and allegedly assaulted Derry mayor Lilian Seenoi-Barr and others, including a child, while screaming about ‘Pakistanis’ and handing out racist material.

Behind the violence and intimidation, evidence continues to mount of loyalist paramilitary direction behind recent riots and racist attacks.

Chris Quinn, Commissioner for Children and Young People, said young people had been coerced into taking part in the attacks by loyalist paramilitary gangs exploiting debt, addiction and fear.

“We have been informed by reliable people working with these young people, that some of those were brought there to clear debts.”

“I heard an account of one young person who was told to go and partake in this, and it would wipe £500 off their debt.”

He also described threats aimed at vulnerable families.

“We know where your mummy lives, we know where your house is, your mum owes such and such money, you need to get down there and partake in this.”

Mr Quinn rejected any suggestion that the violence was spontaneous disorder.

“We know in East Belfast there were paramilitaries on the streets. It looked to me like there was instructions being given.. It was like a switch was clicked.”

The commissioner’s account echoed what many residents, journalists and community workers already knew: the organised direction, intimidation and control exercised by loyalist paramilitary figures.

Again this week, an arson attack took place on Sunday night on the car of a Nigerian healthcare worker in Newtownabbey. The attack was reportedly ordered by a South East Antrim UDA boss who has played a leading role in the recent race-hate riots there.

The victim said he now intends to leave the north. “Maybe they would want to come to kill me. Or stab me. I’m scared of the house, I’m scared of the street, I’m scared of the community. I’m scared of my neighbours. I don’t know who is who.”

The bitterest irony remains the case of Stephen Ogilvie himself.

The stabbing of Ogilvie was cynically seized upon as a pretext for racist violence. Yet it has emerged that Ogilvie had previously been subjected to years of abuse at the hands of loyalist paramilitaries. Forced from the north of Ireland, and later tortured by a UVF-linked gang in Scotland and repeatedly exploited because of his vulnerability, he became another victim of the same forces now claiming to act in his name.

Sinn Féin First Minister Michelle O’Neill has warned that urgent preparations are now needed in anticipation of further racist pogroms and unrest.

“We have to do things in the here and now to respond to what has happened, but we also are looking urgently at what we can do going into the future,” she said.

“So, if we can, if we know this is going to happen - which is even a really uncomfortable thing to say - that we can predict this, we have to do everything that we can.”