Belfast: Child injured in racially-motivated hate crime – BBC News

A child has been injured by broken glass after a large piece of masonry was thrown through a living room window of a family home in south Belfast.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has described it as a racially-motivated hate crime.

The attack happened at a house in Roden Street at about 19:40 GMT on Monday.

"The child's mother was also injured and the young family traumatised," said a PSNI district commander.

'Hard to find the words'

"This was an exceptionally serious incident which resulted in a young child being injured by shards of glass."

The commander added: "Those responsible for such racist violence bring nothing but shame on their local community."

"In contrast, the victims of this attack are working hard for their local community within the Health Service."

The officer said local residents would "know who was involved" in the attack and he urged them to contact the PSNI.

"I am appealing directly to them to stand up against this hate by providing any and all information that will help us to stop this and bring those responsible to justice."

The MP for South Belfast and Mid Down, Claire Hanna, has condemned the attack.

Writing on X, formerly known as Twitter, she said: "Big tough guys in this city injuring little kids with glass, because of their race. Hard to find the words."

Party colleague MLA Matthew O'Toole described the attack as "disgusting" and said it is not representative of the south Belfast community.

"A small child was injured here… we should all stop and pause and think about the society we live in," he told BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme.

He added there needs to be an "enhanced" policing response to racially motivated crime, and he "will be pressing" for stronger legislation and "more severe punishments".