Racist thugs force two thirds of Chinese from neighbourhood

Two thirds of Chinese families have been forced out of a south Belfast neighbourhood where racist thugs are trying to block their attempts to build a community centre, it was claimed today.

The exodus from Donegall Pass emerged as community workers and police spoke out against a sinister new campaign to drive more away.

It involved the distribution of leaflets urging residents in the predominantly Protestant district to resist a so-called “yellow invasion”.

The flyers referred to plans for a Chinese centre, adding: “I wonder will the Donegall Pass community get offered the use of their facilities?”

Anna Lo of the Chinese Welfare Association described the poisonous pamphlet as a call for ethnic cleansing.

“Some people know who wrote this and we would urge them to come forward to the police.

“We have seen 30 years of sectarianism ruin Northern Ireland. We don’t want this to fester and ruin community relations,” she added.

Ms Lo said that at its height the Chinese community numbered around 60 families in Donegall Pass.

“There are only 23 families left because people were intimidated out of the area.”

Ms Lo insisted the people of the area had nothing to fear from their proposals for a new cultural centre.

“We would want such a centre to do work to promote community relations. There would be joint programmes and cultural festivals that would be open to the wider community.”

Stephanie Green of Donegall Pass Community Forum, which has been having talks with the Chinese Welfare Association, said the leaflets could have been sparked by proposals for the centre.

She said the forum wanted to continue the process of building better relationships with the Chinese community.

“We want to promote more integration between the two communities,” she said.

“What was said in that leaflet seemed to place all the ills in the community on one ethnic group. We need a process of education to change these views,” she added.

This latest incident emerged in a week in which the Policing Board of Northern Ireland urged police to tackle rising levels of racial and homophobic attacks.

Inspector Darrin Jones of Donegall Pass police station said they would do everything they could to ensure all ethnic minority families were protected.

“The leaflet contained very anti-Chinese sentiments. There were fairly inflammatory words used, encouraging people in Donegall Pass to get rid of Chinese in the area.

“We are concerned. We have been working very closely with the local community and with the local ethnic groups and we have made great progress in the last two or three months.”

Patrick Yu, Executive Director of the Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities, called on the police to prosecute those responsible for the leaflets for incitement to racial hatred.

“The content is very serious. This is not acceptable behaviour in this society,” he added.

Antrim Police and Antrim Community Safety Partnership are holding a joint Ethnic Awareness Day tomorrow.

The event is a response to the growing minority ethnic communities in Northern Ireland and the small but worrying increase in race-related crimes.