Threats To Ethnic Groups Condemned

Minority ethnic groups are under threat from a loyalist source.

Against a background of sectarian attacks that saw five Catholic churches paint-bombed, a car burnt out on GAA grounds and damage caused to several Orange halls, minority rights activists claimed last night that Muslims, Poles and Indians have received new threats from Protestant extremists.

Coming just weeks after more than 100 Romanian Gypsies (pictured above) fled NI after intimidation, the Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities said groups representing all three communities have received letters purportedly from the splinter group, the Ulster Young Militants.

The letters warned "your building will be blown up" if the minority representatives don't leave.

Last month the bulk of Belfast's Romanian Gypsy population was flown back to Romania after intimidation of some from their homes in Protestant areas.

South Belfast Alliance MLA Anna Lo - NI's only ethnic minority MLA - has expressed disgust at those behind the threatening letters.

She condemned the letters that have been sent to the Belfast Islamic Centre, the Polish Association NI and the Indian Community Centre.

"Who do these thugs think they are? It is those who issue threats that have no place in our society. They are totally unrepresentative of wider society and they need to be apprehended.

"I am totally disgusted at these threats. I feel for staff at the threatened organisations and I want to let them know that people across Northern Ireland are thinking about them and support them in the good work they do," she said on Friday.

See: Romanians Flee As Police Make Arrests

(BMcC/JM)