Pressure on loyalists over attacks

LOYALISTS were accused yesterday of raising sectarian tensions after being blamed for a series of attacks on Catholic bars and churches in Co Antrim.

One pub was set on fire and a second slightly damaged when hit by petrol bombs.

Two Catholic churches in Ballymena were smeared with paint just hours after a blast bomb exploded at a house, forcing the evacuation of a dozen families in the town. Nobody was hurt in the fire which swept through a bar at Martinstown. The remains of two petrol bombs were found outside the second bar at Rasharkin, where there was slight damage.

Sinn Féin and the nationalist SDLP claimed unionists needed to do more in a bid to halt the attacks.

Sean Farren, an SDLP member of the suspended Northern Ireland Assembly, and party councillors Declan O’Loan, PJ McAvoy and Margaret Gribben claimed there had been a concerted attack on the Catholic community.

The statement added: “This situation has reached a dangerous level and calls for a clear stand to ensure community relations are not damaged beyond repair.”

Philip McGuigan, of Sinn Féin, claimed unionist politicians and in particular the Rev Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionist Party were in denial about the levels of ongoing anti-Catholic intimidation.