Halls' Attacks Condemned

Recent attacks on loyalist halls have been condemned. Around a half dozen halls in the Cookstown area have been targeted in recent days in what has since been described as "an attack on the reformed faith".

On Sunday police officers received reports of damage to five halls in the Coagh and Stewartstown area, and they believe all the incidents are connected.

The PSNI are appealing for information after the attacks on the premises which are used by both church and community organisations.

The premises damaged were the Kingsmill Gospel Hall at Ballymaguire Road; Kingsmill Band Hall at Lisnahall Road; Arboe Church Hall at Ballinderry Bridge Road; Tamlaght Parish Church at Ruskey Road and the Coagh Orange Hall.

A police spokesman said the perpetrators broke windows at every premises either on Saturday night or in the early hours of Sunday.

UUP MLA for Mid-Ulster, Billy Armstrong, said that another property had also been attacked, bringing the total to six.

"I am totally disgusted at the actions of these thugs who want to bully and intimidate the Protestant people from these various locations," he said.

"Actions such as these only serve to bring us back to the old days when people lived in fear from one attack to the next, and have obviously been carried out by someone with a hatred of Protestant and unionist culture."

Damage caused ranged from windows being broken to doors being forced open.

The Grand Secretary of the Orange Order, Drew Nelson, described the attacks as "low-level sectarian intimidation aimed directly against the Protestant community".

He said: "The Orange Order will be making representations for increased security in the area and anyone with any information should bring it forward to the police," he said.

(BMcC)