Sectarian attacks

[Shades40]

More idiots on the attack...........

Page last updated at 09:37 GMT, Thursday, 30 July 2009 10:37 UK
Arson attack at Orange Order hall
Police officer

There has been an overnight arson attack at Kilmore Orange Hall in Lurgan, County Armagh.

CCTV cameras were disabled before a number of roof tiles were removed and a flammable liquid poured inside.

The liquid was then set alight. The resultant fire caused extensive damage to the entrance porch.

However, it is understood the main part of the hall, which was rebuilt after being destroyed in a similar attack in 2006, was not damaged.

[Wasp]

Published Date: 30 July 2009
A local Orange hall has been damaged in an arson attack.
Kilmore Orange hall outside Lurgan suffered extensive smoke damage in the blaze.

A police spokesman said the CCTV cameras at the premises were disabled before roof tiles were removed and flammable liquid poured into the building.

The hall's porch took the full impact of the fire, although the main body of the building escaped relatively unscathed.

The facility is used by a local Orange lodge and the Royal Black Preceptory. It is also used by a local band, a youth club and community groups.

A total of 14 Orange halls have been targeted by arsonists so far this year.

A spokesperson for the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland condemned the latest incident.

"This is yet another attack on Protestant culture and our way of life. We call upon anyone with the slightest piece of information to contact the police and help them find the culprits," he said.

"Someone must know who is carrying out these attacks on our premises across Northern Ireland. They have a moral responsibility to pass on that information to the police."

The spokesman warned against any form of retaliation following the Lurgan fire.

Police are appealing for information.

[Harry]

Vandals have thrown paint at two Orange halls in the Rasharkin area over the weekend.

The first attack, at Rasharkin Orange Hall in Main Street, was discovered at 2140 BST on Saturday.

Another paint attack was reported at 1045 BST on Monday. This time the target was Drumcon Orange Hall on the Craigs Road just outside the village.

A spokesman for the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland condemned the incidents and urged witnesses to contact the police.

He added: "The only way to deal with people who carry out these sectarian attacks is to help the police bring them before the courts".

Rasharkin Orange Hall has been the target of a number of attacks this year.

[Harry]

A GAA pitch in County Tyrone has been daubed with sectarian graffiti.

Police said weed-killer was used to spell out sectarian slogans on the pitch at St Macartans Gaelic Football Club in Augher.

Clogher Valley councillor Anthony McGonnell condemned the "senseless attack" and hoped it would be an "isolated incident".

"This attack will not deter the club from continuing to offer a service to the local community," he said.

"The Augher club is a testament to the hard work and community ethos the GAA in Tyrone inhabits and a lot of effort and money, all raised from the local community, has been spent in the past few years to make the facilities there one of the best around."

[Harry]

A SERIES of attacks on homes in the Dunclug area of the town are being treated as sectarian and may be linked, according to the PSNI.
The police investigation is ongoing into both the petrol bombing of a house at Millfield on Tuesday, July 28, which police are describing as “a hate crime”, and damage to windows of a house at Dunclug Gardens on August 1 and August 3, which is “beingADVERTISEMENTtreated as sectarian”.

Two men were arrested in the wake of the first incident, one of whom was released unconditionally and the other on police bail pending further enquiries.

In the latter incident, at Dunclug Gardens, in the early hours of Monday, August 3, five windows were broken at the property which had already had a window smashed two days before, at around 1am.

A man was arrested but released on police bail pending further enquiries, a police spokesman said.

Police have also confirmed that, on July 29, a woman was arrested on suspicion of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and possession of an offensive weapon following an incident at a house in nearby Dunclug Park in which two people were injured. She has since been released on police bail pending further police enquiries.

Sinn Fein said they believed the victims were targeted because they are Protestant.

SF MLA for the area, Daithi McKay said he believed also that the PSNI were “downplaying” sectarian attacks on Protestants and alleged they had also done so in the past when young Catholics were attacked.

Mr McKay said: “Over the past number of weeks there have been a number of attacks on Protestant properties in the Dunclug / Millfield areas of Ballymena. In the wake of these attacks a number of residents in the area have contacted my office disgusted at these events. Local people have told me that the attacks are sectarian and are ashamed of what is taking place.

“Throwing petrol bombs at Protestant residents’ homes here is totally reprehensible and local members of the nationalist/republican community have expressed their concern that the police are trying to downplay these attacks.

“We have seen cases in the past where attacks on young Catholics in Ballymena were not treated as sectarian even though they were,” the MLA claimed.

“Equally, these attacks on Protestant families should be treated as sectarian by the police and given the attention such attacks warrant.

“The majority of people living here want to do so peacefully without any sectarianism and in particular sectarian violence.

[Harry]

Credit where it is due to Mr Mckay. I'm not a big fan of his but i appreciate his comments in relation to yet another attempt of ethnic cleansing of Protestants.

[Harry]

The home of former police ombudsman Dame Nuala O'Loan and her SDLP assembly member husband Declan has been targeted in a sectarian attack.

Paint was thrown on their house in the Oldpark Avenue area of Ballymena at about 0400 BST on Wednesday.

Mr O'Loan said it "was a regrettable incident which the police were actively investigating."

"No immediate motive is known, but I understand it will be classed as a hate crime," the North Antrim MLA added.

No-one was injured in the incident.

Police have appealed for anyone with information concerning the incident to contact them.

[earl]

Harry,

This thread was a great idea. It really highlights the frequency and intensity of these attacks. And this is only covering what gets reported.

[Harry]

Paint has been thrown at a County Antrim church.

The incident at All Saints Church, on the Broughshane Road in Ballymena, was reported to police shortly after 0800 BST on Thursday.

A bottle containing paint struck the tower of the church. Police have said they are treating the incident as sectarian.

They have appealed for anyone with information to contact them on 0845 6008000.

A cross community group, the Spark project, is going to clean up the paint.

SDLP MLA Declan O'Loan condemned the attack.

Mr O'Loan, whose own home was targeted by vandals the previous night, said: "This is another cowardly and senseless act. I fail to see exactly what this gains for the perpetrators.

"These attacks are an attempt to raise tensions in the area and stir up trouble. Thankfully, the majority of the people of Ballymena have no time for these vandals."

[Harry]

An Orange hall in a County Antrim village has been damaged by fire.

Police said a small fire was started in front of the hall in Rasharkin on Friday night causing scorch damage.

Meanwhile, an Ancient Order of Hibernians hall in Ballymoney has also been damaged. Graffiti was daubed on the hall at Rosnashane Road.

Both halls have been attacked in recent months. In July, the AOH hall was broken into and a petrol bomb was thrown at the Orange hall.



The AOH hall in Ballymoney had graffiti sprayed on it
John Finlay, a DUP councillor for the Rasharkin area said it was a "deplorable situation".

"This is the fourth time in six weeks this hall has been attacked," he said.

"We need to get a grip of the situation, we need to see the PSNI taking a very pro active stand in bringing the perpetrators of these deeds to justice."

Police have appealed for anyone who witnessed either incident to contact them on 0845 6008000.

[Harry]

A number of business premises in Garvagh, County Londonderry, have been damaged in sectarian attacks.

A total of 20 windows were broken at a butcher's shop, a cafe, a hotel and a public house on Main Street between 0300 BST and 0330 BST on Sunday.

Police say they are treating the attacks as sectarian.

They said they would be examining CCTV footage following the incident and have appealed for information.

East Derry SDLP MLA John Dallat said resources for rural policing needed to be reviewed.

"The present system is failing ordinary decent people living in vulnerable places such as Garvagh," he said.

"They don't need to be getting phone calls in the middle of the night to tell them to return to their premises, as they have been smashed up."

Sinn Fein councillor Billy Leonard said the owners of the premises would not be put out of business by "thugs".

"I spoke to one of the business people who said that they would be determined to keep going, that they serve a mixed clientele and they have a mixed workforce," he said.

[Harry]

An Orange hall in Bellaghy, County Londonderry, has been damaged in an overnight attack.

Graffiti was daubed on the building and drainpipes were damaged in the incident on the Ballynease Road which was reported at about 1130 BST on Sunday.

DUP MLA for Mid-Ulster Ian McCrea condemned the attack and said those responsible were "displaying their deep hatred for Protestants".

He said it was motivated by "nothing other than blatant bigotry".

In an attack at an Orange hall in Rasharkin on Friday night, scorch damage was caused after a fire was started in front of the building.

An Ancient Order of Hibernians hall in Ballymoney was also damaged at Rosnashane Road when graffiti was daubed on it.

[Harry]

THE home of a Catholic man beaten to death in Coleraine by a loyalist mob was targeted in what's being treated as a sectarian attack.
Kevin McDaid was killed and Damien Fleming critically injured and left in a coma when a mob stormed the mainly Heights area after Rangers beat Celtic to the Scottish Premier League football title.

Mr McDaid's family home was one of two in the Heights targeted in the early hours of Tuesday.

Bottles were thrown at both the houses, with a window broken in the other home.

Ten people have been charged over Mr McDaid's killing in May - six with the actual murder - with nationalist politicians claiming there has been a continuing campaign by loyalists to intimidate witnesses.

SDLP MLA John Dallat said: "This year has seen a litany of sectarian attacks in Coleraine, with the murder of Kevin McDaid being the most notorious and most sickening.

"Now we hear the disgusting news that two homes in the Heights area, one of which was that belonging to the McDaid family, have been targeted by bottle-wielding thugs."

The East Derry MLA added: "Those responsible for hurling Buckfast bottles at the McDaid family home are no more than pitiful cretins.

"Not content with that they then proceeded to family friends of the McDaids and broke a window there."

He said the people of Coleraine could do without "a systematic and sustained campaign of terror and intimidation being waged on the Catholic community in this part of the north-west".

Such behaviour was intolerable in a civilised society, he added.

Sinn Fein Coleraine councillor Billy Leonard demanded an end to the intimidation.

He said: "In both cases they arrived by car and they knew exactly the homes they wanted to hit.

"There are young children in these houses and they have obviously been frightened by the incidents."

Mr Leonard said: "Kevin McDaid's name has been cynically chanted by loyalists at the fringes of the Heights and Catholics have been subjected to verbal intimidation when simply in the town centre shopping.

"On some occasions witnesses to Kevin's murder have been singled out."

The PSNI said: "Police in Coleraine have been working tirelessly over the past number of months with all communities in the Heights area to address local issues and concerns and work towards solutions.

"All reports of crime are treated seriously and are thoroughly investigated.

"In relation to two incidents of bottles being thrown in the Somerset Drive and Laurel Hill Road area during the early hours of this morning, every investigative opportunity has been utilised and enquiries are continuing."

The full article contains 436 words and appears in News Letter newspaper.

[Wasp]

much of the above post with the alledged claims is absolute nonesense, then again what else do you expect when dallat and leaonard are spouting off with their lies.

[Harry]

An Orange Hall in County Antrim was attacked by vandals for the third time in two weeks on Tuesday night.

Graffiti was daubed on the outside of the hall on Main Street in Rasharkin.

On 8 August paint was thrown at the hall and on 14 August a small fire was started at the front of the hall causing scorch damage.

This latest incident was reported to police at 0800 BST on Wednesday. Police have appealed for anyone with information to contact them.

A parade of 40 bands is due to take place in the village on Friday night.