Residents 'living in fear' following racially motivated criminal damage

The words "local only" were painted on the garage door of a house in north Belfast

Police are investigating a number of instances of racially motivated criminal damage in north Belfast on Thursday.

It was reported shortly after 23:05 BST that graffiti was painted on a house in the Manor Street area.

Windows of the property were also smashed and a nearby parked car was damaged.

Independent councillor Paul McCusker said there has been a "escalation of race attacks" in the area recently, adding that residents are living like "prisoners in their own home".

The front door was also damaged on a separate house

Another two properties, one also in the Manor Street area and one in Summerhill Court area of north Belfast were damaged, and police are investigating a potential link between all three incidents.

BBC News NI understands that two of the properties were vacant, but that a family was living in the third at the time of the incident.

Ch Insp Mullan said: "There is no place in our society for this type of intimidating behaviour and we will continue to engage with local representatives and partner agencies around community safety."

In May, a number of a number of families whose homes were targeted in a sectarian-motivated attack planned to leave their properties in the nearby Annalee Street and Alloa Street areas.

Paul McCusker said he has noticed a recent "escalation" of "race attacks" in the area.

Speaking on Sunday, McCusker said the amount of fear that people were living in at the moment was "quite frightening".

"People should be able to live where they want to live, and now we've seen people have to move out and people living in fear every single day," he said.

He called on unionist politicians to "step up and actually put an end to this".

McCusker said north Belfast was the most divided part of the city.

"There's more peace walls here in north Belfast, but that does not give anybody the excuse to go out and intimidate and cause this harm," he said.

Democratic Unionist Party councillor Jordan Doran said: "All threats of violence are absolutely wrong."

"But what we don't need is elected representatives stealing soundbites for headlines, and condemning from afar.

"It isn't useful to talk about a community instead of to a community.

He said there is a much needed "conversation about chronic housing shortage, lack of investment and much-needed regeneration in the area".