Schoolboys targeted in sectarian attack

An attack on children outside a Belfast secondary school today was being treated by police as sectarian.

Police said a man on a motor scooter targeted a group of boys outside St Gabriel’s Secondary School on the Crumlin Road as they were arriving for classes.

The man, thought to be carrying an iron bar, grabbed one of the boys but the boy managed to escape, said a police spokeswoman.

No one was injured and the man sped off down nearby Hesketh Street, a mainly Protestant area.

The incident followed a night of attacks on both Catholic and Protestant homes in north Belfast last night by rival groups.

Fireworks and paint were used to damage a number of homes in the area.

In the first attack windows were smashed in a house at Sommerdale Park and fireworks thrown inside, causing extensive damage to the living room.

At about the same time windows were smashed in homes at Kingsmere Avenue. This time a paint bomb was thrown inside, causing extensive damage.

About 90 minutes later, in what was believed to be a retaliatory attack, homes were attacked and cars damaged in the Mountainview Park area.

No one was injured in any of the incidents.

However at Dunmurry in south Belfast a couple and their three children suffered shock when their home was attacked during the night.

A shotgun blast was fired into the house, windows smashed and a car parked outside the house at Ardcaoin Avenue damaged.

Police said that the motive for the final attack was not believed to be sectarian.