Strategy urged to end sectarian violence

A LONG-TERM strategy needs to be developed to end tit-for-tat violence in sectarian flashpoint areas of North Belfast, community leaders heard yesterday.

Following the latest eruption of violence in the Ardoyne area of the city, Sinn Féin councillor Margaret McClenaghan denounced a spate of attacks on Catholic and Protestant homes by loyalists and nationalists.

In the latest incident, paint bombs were thrown by youths at several nationalist homes in the Alliance Avenue and Ardoyne Road area at 11am.

This followed six attacks in north Belfast on Tuesday night, with the home of 82-year-old cancer sufferer John Mussen and his wife in the loyalist Hesketh Road targeted by paint-bombers.

Democratic Unionist Assembly member Nelson McCausland said the attack was “deliberate” and “blatantly sectarian.” A house in Skegoneill Avenue was also targeted with a petrol bomb with a firework attached to it but it failed to ignite.Earlier, a paint bomb struck a house and a car was set alight in Somerdale Park.

Ms McClenaghan said the attacks needed to come to an immediate end.

“All these attacks are based purely on sectarianism,” she said. “They are wrong and have no justification whatsoever, whatever side of the community they emanate from.

“The residents from the homes that were attacked this morning had actually stood at the front of their homes last night to ensure that young people could not pass by and cause trouble at the interface.

“This is a positive move in order to attempt to restore calm to the interface areas. However, it is not enough on its own. We need to see a long-term interface strategy developed and implemented by all relevant parties in order to resolve the long-running issues of interface tensions.”

Meanwhile, a 70-year-old man was arrested yesterday in connection with the shooting of a boy, aged five, in a school playground.

Darragh Somers has recovered since being shot in the head while playing with classmates outside Mullinaskea Primary School, near Enniskillen in Northern Ireland, in April.

Detective Chief Inspector Nigel Kyle confirmed police were not seeking anyone else for the Fermanagh school shooting and were preparing a file for the Director of Public Prosecutions.

During the investigation, more than 51 rifles in the area were seized for ballistic examination.