Racist Attacks in Belfast
Racists attack family in new home
Belfast Telegraph - 08 January 2004
A PAKISTANI family attacked in their south Belfast home by racists had only moved into the area yesterday, neighbours said today.
In the latest in a spate of racist attacks in the south of the city, a six foot wooden plank was thrown through the front window of a house at Tavanagh Street off the Donegall Road. A man and his sister-in- law, who is eight and a half months pregnant, were in the house at the time.
The incident happened shortly before 10.50pm after the occupants had retired for the evening. A plank was thrown through the front window waking the couple. They were not injured but were badly shaken.
There was no-one at the house today but neighbours, who did not wish to be named, said they had only moved in yesterday. One woman said: "I saw them arriving yesterday with their suitcases and I think it's terrible that they can't even spend one night in the place. There have been quite a few racial attacks round here and I feel that nobody in the area wants this type of thing happening here as it's really bringing down the name."
Another neighbour, who did not give his name, described the attack as "awful". "When we heard an Asian family were moving in, my girlfriend was a bit worried that something like this would happen," he said. "But it's awful that people can't live side by side without this type of thing. I think the general feeling round here is that people don't want these racial attacks on our doorstep."
The neighbour said he had been woken by the sound of the window smashing. "When I looked out there was no-one there and all I could see was broken glass everywhere. Then the police came and took them away. They only moved in yesterday."
The incident follows a string of racist attacks and comes just weeks after three families were forced to leave their south Belfast homes. A Ugandan couple and two Chinese families left the city after their homes were attacked by a gang in the loyalist Donegall Road area. One of the Chinese woman gave birth to a baby boy this week and is currently staying at a hotel. But she said she is still determined to leave.
Families flee Belfast home attack
RTE site - December 21, 2003
Three families fled their homes in Belfast today after what police believe to be racially-motivated attacks.
The two Chinese families and one of African descent were targeted by a gang in the south of the city during the night.
In one of the incidents in the Lower Donegall Road the gang burst into a house and assaulted two pregnant Chinese women and smashed a man in the face with a brick breaking his nose. Bricks were thrown through the windows of two other houses in the area soon afterwards.
Police said the occupants of all the houses, some with young children, had now left their homes for their own safety.
Thieves behind racist attacks
The Observer - Sunday December 28, 2003
Burglary gang accused city's ethnic minorities to hide their own crimes
By Henry McDonald, Ireland editor
A gang of thieves orchestrated a series of racist attacks in Belfast to take the heat off their own criminal activities, The Observer has learnt.
People in the loyalist Village area blamed last weekend's violence that led to two Chinese and one African family fleeing the area on a group that they say is responsible for 51 burglaries in south Belfast this year. Fearing retribution from local loyalist paramilitaries, the gang spread rumours that foreigners were behind the burglaries. Its members then launched the attacks on the Chinese and African homes last Saturday night, according to people living in the area.
In one attack in the Lower Donegall Road the gang burst into a house and assaulted two pregnant Chinese women - one of whom was due to have her baby on Christmas Day. A man in the house had his nose broken when a brick was smashed into his face. Bricks were thrown through the window of the two other families.
One pensioner, who did not want to be named, said residents were certain that the criminal gang rather than an organised racist group or loyalist paramilitaries were behind the assaults. 'These boys have been torturing people around here for weeks. None of us feels safe in our beds. But they attacked these poor people just to take the heat off themselves. The decent people in the Village are disgusted about what has happened,' she told The Observer yesterday.
The largest loyalist paramilitary force in South Belfast, the Ulster Defence Association, also confirmed it is investigating a link between the racist incidents and the young criminals. One leading UDA figure in the city said he would not tolerate or sanction any attacks on the ethnic minority community by any of his members. The UDA's way of dealing with any non-aligned criminals in their locality is to either beat or shoot them.
All three families, some with young children, spent Christmas in hotels and temporary accommodation and have refused to return to the Village.
The Police Service has confirmed that it is still investigating a racial motive for last weekend's violence.
The majority of racially motivated attacks have taken place in the Mid Ulster area around Portadown and Craigavon. The violence co-incided with a local political controversy over the proposed building of a mosque at Bleary, Co Armagh.
Local unionist politicians organised opposition to the mosque's construction. Anti-racist campaigners in Northern Ireland accused the unionists of stirring up racial tensions for political gain. The organisation behind the Portadown and Craigavon racist incidents was the White National Party, an extremist breakaway faction of the British National Party.
There have been similar attempts by the WNP to organise in Belfast especially in the Village area. Last July the WNP daubed KKK and swastikas close to the homes of foreign workers and nurses.
However, both major loyalist organisations, the UDA and UVF, have not allowed the overtly racist groups to grow in their redoubts. The UVF's political wing, the Progressive Unionist Party, has been at the forefront of a campaign to stop racist attacks on Philippine and African nurses living and working in Ballymena, Co Antrim.
In 1994 the UVF forced out a number of Combat 18 members from East Belfast at gunpoint, accusing them of spying on loyalists for the British intelligence services.
Press Statement - 21 December 2003
IRSP Condemn Fascist Elements for Attack
A spokesperson for the IRSP in Belfast has condemned racist attacks in the Village area of South Belfast by fascist elements, stating:
"Racism is increasingly becoming a worry as our society becomes more multi-cultural. We in the IRSP condemn utterly the fascist elements who perpetrate such acts against our ethnic neighbours, some of whom have come here to seek asylum from their native oppressive regimes.
"It is time that these fascist gangs realise that these people are not the cause of the ills in our society. It is the system that we live in that has failed them. They must start to question the status quo and direct their anger and disillusionment towards the real evils in our society, the corrupt capitalist class.
"Quality of life will not improve for working class loyalists on the Donegall Pass no matter how many pregnant Asian women they brutalise."
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