Loyalists responsible for sickening sectarian attack on new home of disabled boy in Antrim also behind race-hate incidents in the town – The Irish News

Series of sectarian and racist attacks carried out in recent weeks

An LVF-linked gang responsible for a sectarian attack on the new home of a nine-year-old disabled boy in Antrim has also carried out a series of race hate attacks on properties.

The gang, based in the Ballycraigy estate, has targeted several families in the area over recent days and weeks.

Threatening posters and graffiti have also appeared in the town warning that properties are for “locals”.

It is understood the hate campaign is part of an attempt to drive foreign workers from the area in order to force the reallocation of their homes to people from the area.

The latest incident comes amid rising tensions in Antrim in the run-up to the Twelfth.

In recent days Union, ‘Ulster’ and other flags were put up close to St Comgall’s Catholic Church, which is within view of the town’s PSNI station.

Several homes in the Ballycraigy area have come under sectarian and racist attack in recent days.

A family was forced to flee their Craig Hill home after windows and a parked car were smashed before midnight on Monday.

Police say two men were seen in the area at the time.

Officers patrolling the district located a second vehicle with a broken window a short time later.

Police say both incidents are being investigated as “racially motivated hate crimes”.

It is understood some of the victims are health care workers.

Windows on the Craig Hill property remained boarded up on Wednesday and the message “local tenants only” had been spray painted across one of them.

A poster has also been put up on a pole close to the property bearing a sinister and threatening message: “Attention landlords, NIHE, landlords, we have had enough of undesirables and immigrants being placed in our community.

“The time has come for locals only….no multiculturalism, no sex offenders.

“Action will be taken.”

It has also emerged that the window of a car was smashed in the Bloomhill district of Ballycraigy last week.

Offensive graffiti, including a racist slur, was also sprayed on the front of the property.

It is understood the family who live in the house are long-term residents of Ballycraigy.

Police say the incident is being treated as a “hate incident”.

“This report is being linked to the recent spate of hate crime incidents in the area over the last few weeks and is a matter we are prioritising at present,” a PSNI spokeswoman added.

Police say they have increased their “visibility” across the Antrim area adding they are “very aware that racially motivated hate crimes come in many different forms and strikes at the heart of local communities who do not want these issues to escalate”.

“There is no place in our society for such despicable behaviour and we will take a robust approach to those wanting to cause fear, or incite and promote hatred,” the spokeswoman added.

Windows in a house in the nearby Chaine Court area were also recently broken with the message “locals only” and cross-hairs sprayed on boarding put up on the property.

South Antrim MLA John Blair said: “There is no place for hate in Antrim or anywhere else,” he said.

“All of us share this community, none of us own this community.”

“And I can say without fear of contradiction that the series of attacks and incidents of intimidation that we have seen in recent days are not representative of the feelings in the wider, diverse, Antrim community and the contact I have had from right across the community proves that.”

Mr Blair said he has met with housing agencies and police and appealed for “anyone with any information with those behind these despicable attacks to forward that information to police for the good of all of us”.

There was outrage earlier this week after the Irish News revealed that a home specially built for a disabled child was one of two properties attacked in Reford Grove, which is close to Ballycraigy estate.

Windows were broken and paint bombs thrown during the attack in the early hours of Sunday.

One of the properties was specially built for Jessy Clark, who suffers from spina bifida and has a range of other complex medical needs.

The purpose-built bungalow has been adapted to meet Jessy’s medical needs and includes a hoist and widened doorways.

His family had been due to move into the property in the coming days.

Meanwhile, menacing graffiti has also appeared in the Ballycraigy area in recent days.

The scrawl, which is headed “warning” written in red letters, includes the message “being a keyboard warrior can seriously damage your home”.

The sinister message is signed off “#think twice”.