Nearly three years on from a final political settlement in Northern Ireland, emergency evacuations of families under intimidation are on the rise. A summer of high tension has seen hundreds of attacks on both Catholic and Protestant individuals and premises, including churches, being reported to police.
There have been 65 emergency re-housing cases in the five months since April; the total for the whole of last year was 100. These include families subjected to petrol-bomb and stoning attacks on their homes.
A total of 1,500 sectarian attacks - an average of four a day - were recorded in the past year, almost exactly the same as in the previous 12 months. An example of how life can be affected when a family comes under attack was given by a Protestant man living in the Co Antrim village of Rasharkin, where what are described as "Catholic hoods" have been active. The village has been the centre of controversy over a loyalist marching dispute which gave rise to many incidents in recent months.
More...
