Boy injured in sectarian attack

A FIVE-YEAR-OLD boy was recovering in hospital in Belfast yesterday following a five hour operation to save the sight of his left eye after he was injured in a sectarian attack.

The Protestant boy was a passenger in a car with his father returning from an Orange Order parade on Saturday evening, when the vehicle was pelted with stones.

The incident happened at 9.45pm as the silver Hyundai they were travelling in passed through the junction of Cromac Street and East Bridge Street. As the vehicle drove past, stones were thrown by a gang of youths who had gathered in the nationalist Markets area. One stone smashed the window of the passing car striking the boy in the face.