Latest victims of racist attacks in Belfast tell of fear

A Romanian family whose home was the latest to be attacked by racist vandals in the North said today they are considering fleeing.

Sorin Ciurar, 20, was confronted by a pile of broken glass after thugs shattered his bathroom window in east Belfast.

He said he was left shaken by the ordeal late last night in a loyalist working-class part of the city.

More than 100 of his countrymen left their homes in recent days and sheltered in a church hall and leisure centre after earlier property attacks.

Mr Ciurar said: "I am frightened. I don't know what we are going to do now."

There are 13 people in the three-storey property on the Newtownards Road, a busy thoroughfare.

They have been there for around three months.

Some of the five children were seen peering from bedroom windows at the scrum of media and police outside their door.

Community workers and councillors also called to offer their help.

Mr Ciurar said he had lived in the North for more than a year but moved from Donegall Avenue in the Village to his present home.

In broken English he described hearing the window smashing and seeing the debris.

This attack comes after two homes in the Village were targeted and windows broken, forcing about 20 families to seek emergency housing.

The North's chief constable defended his force's response to the racist violence.

Hugh Orde denied claims that his officers were slow to react and said police responded promptly to calls for help, insisting officers took racist crime very seriously.

"It is a complicated picture," he said. "We had seven calls for assistance over a period of four-and-a-half to five days.

"I have to say some of those calls were not, on arrival, discovered by the officers to be crimes between different communities.

"They were indeed, on one occasion, a dispute between different families from the Romanian community."

Last night a further Romanian family was targeted by racists when a window was smashed in their house on the Upper Newtownards Road area of east Belfast.

Orde responded today to claims that his officers should gave protected the Romanians evacuated from their homes and helped them to stay in their houses.

The families, including young children and a newborn baby, were driven away from the scene by police and are now sleeping at a temporary location elsewhere in Belfast which has been kept secret for security reasons.

Orde said: "It was a confusing picture, as I have pointed out. This was not a black and white situation.

"The officers did their best in all those circumstances.

"In terms of moving people ... the officers ... came across a large number of people in the street and took what action they could to assist them.

"They (the families) had decided to move."

He told the BBC: "I am determined that had they wished to stay, I would have been absolutely determined, as my officers would, to protect them."

Romania's consul general, Mihai Delcea, is to hold high-level meetings in the North today.

Dr Delcea is expected to meet First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness at Stormont.

The Romanian representative will also meet Social Development Minister Margaret Ritchie, who has responsibility for social housing.

Loyalists have been blamed for the spate of attacks, but police said they do not believe paramilitaries were involved in orchestrating the violence.

Dr Delcea later met the families in emergency accommodation. Some are a "little stressed," he admitted.

"We are here to build bridges between our communities and societies, not to destroy anything," he said.

He added the reaction of civil society, with local people donating food and blankets, had been appreciated.

"We are very confident and we have received a number of assurances," he disclosed.

"They are in full accordance with European standards, with the maximum they can do to assist and protect people in distress."

Dr Delcea added: "Our community is much larger than the number of people who unfortunately suffered this."

He said five-year-old girl Fernanda was the most "popular" person left homeless. The 114 people have received food and medical care for conditions unrelated to the recent disruption.

"There are an isolated group of young people who just reacted, they (the police) are not sure what the reasons behind their violent behaviour," the Romanian official said following a meeting with Social Development Minister Margaret Ritchie.

"They (Romanians) are safe here, I have not received a negative message from other Romanians here."

He added the family which was attacked last night was likely to stay in the home.

The (PSNI) denied the south Belfast attacks were coordinated.

Police Superintendent Chris Noble said: "The information we have at this point in time is that it was a sporadic attack.

"It was a sporadic attack by a number of youths with no affiliation or coordination.

"What I can guarantee is a commitment from the police service in terms of visible, responsible policing."

Leader of the loyalist Progressive Unionist Party Dawn Purvis, who represents the east Belfast area, called on those responsible for racist attacks to stop.

"I condemn those responsible for attacks on another Romanian family, this time in east Belfast, and call on them to stop as they are destroying their own community," he said.

"Romanian and other migrant workers are part of our society, they are here to settle, to help build and sustain our economy, our schools and health system and our communities.

"The people who are carrying out these attacks obviously do not care about the future of their own neighbourhoods they are intent on creating instability, forcing people to move which in turn damages our economy and our ability to keep services in place like local schools."

She added: "There are groups working very hard to tackle racism where it is visible in harshest form. I support the work of these groups and call upon the Executive to do likewise by producing their Cohesion, Sharing and Integration strategy, fully resourced, to get to grips with these issues."

Meanwhile, it emerged that the Romanian Ambassador to the UK, Dr Ion Jinga, will visit the North today for talks with the First and Deputy First Ministers.

Ulster Unionist councillor for east Belfast Jim Rodgers also condemned last night's attack.

"From talking to police I believe that this is the second such incident at this family home," he said.

"While I recognise the family's fears I would urge them not to give in and move away.

"I would appeal to those responsible for the attacks to bring them to an end."

He expressed fears that the attacks may gain momentum if those involved did not step back and he warned they were damaging their area's reputation.

However he added: "Whatever people's feelings and concerns about the presence of foreign nationals in Northern Ireland, nothing could justify such attacks."