Workers tasked to remove racist graffiti threatened

Police say it happened at some point overnight between Wednesday 20 and Thursday 21 November

Contractors employed to remove racist graffiti from a house in east Belfast were threatened and told to leave the area twice last month.

The workers were intimidated from Hornby Crescent off the Newtownards Road on two different occasions in November.

They were there to clean overtly racist graffiti from the outside of a Housing Executive property, which had also been targeted in the past.

The words "No blacks" and "Locals only" as well as an extremely offensive term, were sprayed on the property overnight between 20 and 21 November.

Intimidated

The police said they were made aware of it on 24 November and they are investigating it as a racially motivated hate crime.

It is understood the people who were living in the house at the time have since left.

The graffiti was removed by Belfast City Council on Tuesday afternoon but questions had been asked as to why it took nine days from the first report to the police.

It has now emerged that on the 25 November, and again three days later, contractors were intimidated at the scene and told to leave before they could carry out their work.

'Absolutely abhorrent'

Similar graffiti was sprayed on the same property on two other occasions in October and November.

Alliance councillor for the area, Fiona McAteer, said those behind the graffiti did not represent the views of the majority of people in East Belfast.

"lt's absolutely abhorrent, these are words that we should not have in our vocabulary anymore.

"People shouldn't feel comfortable to be able to write that on a wall and no-one should have to read it.

"We are in a housing crisis. There so many people waiting for a safe, secure house so to have houses that can't be used because of a few people in society, is just not good enough."