Loyalists blamed for hotel arson attack

Loyalists have been blamed for an apparent arson attack which forced 15 families to flee the Belfast hostel in which they were staying.

The families, mostly Catholic, were forced to seek alternative accommodation in hotels across the city during disturbances in Ashmore Street between the nationalist Falls Road and loyalist Shankill Road last night.

The hostel was set alight following an evening of stone-throwing which residents blamed on loyalist youths.

Police were called to the scene of the attacks to deal with the sporadic stone-throwing.

Residents said when the police left at around 9pm, a window of the hostel was broken into and a bedding store was set alight.

One woman named Margaret, who had been at the hostel six months, said residents were lucky to be alive.

‘‘There was a group of between 15 and 16 kids on the loyalist side aged between four and 17 who were throwing bricks and stones and shouting to us: ‘We are going to kill all you Taigs’.

‘‘They were saying: ‘You are going to be burned out tonight’.

‘‘Yet every time we called the police nothing happened. Then all of a sudden they smashed a window and set the place alight.

‘‘People immediately fled the hostel. There were kids half-dressed, in their underwear squealing.

‘‘Everybody was panicking and the smoke was coming round their heads.

‘‘People were relieved to have got out. They are glad to have got away from the hostel which has been regularly attacked, almost on a daily basis. They are not getting the protection that is needed.’’

Margaret, a victim of domestic violence who has been homeless for six months,

said it was hard to be put out of another home because of violence.

Police confirmed that their patrols had to deal with sporadic stoning in the area and that the hostel had been set alight.

Fire services were called to the scene and were able to put out the blaze.

The hostel sustained smoke and water damage.

The violence was condemned by a member of the nationalist SDLP, Margaret Walsh.

‘‘The people who attacked the hostel would have known that there were Catholic families inside.

‘‘These attacks have been going on for years but this is one of the more serious incidents.

‘‘The residents were petrified and I am angry that anyone would take it into their own hands to burn people out,’’ she said.

Ms Walsh called on loyalist and unionist politicians to condemn the disturbances and to do their utmost to guarantee the protection of families living in the hostel.

‘‘I think we are very lucky that no one lost their life because this incident was very dangerous and very disturbing,’’ she said.