'Lives in danger' - landlord speaks out after racially-motivated attack

One of the vehicles at the scene of the attack

A landlord, who is housing Filipino workers in a number of properties near Ballymena, County Antrim, has said he fears for his own safety and theirs.

Sam Carson spoke to BBC News NI after six vehicles were burnt and destroyed outside a house in Lisnevenagh Road where six of his tenants live.

The tenants, who are employed by a large business nearby, were inside the property when the cars were targeted on Sunday night.

Police are treating the arson attack as a racially-motivated hate crime.

A farmer and a landlord, Mr Carson said he has been the victim of an "online hate campaign" and thinks the attack is related to his decision to house Filipinos.

Mr Carson said they have lived in the house for two years, and he described them as "peaceful people, working hard".

Speaking to BBC News NI he said he had never experienced any trouble, until the Ballymena riots in June.

"Since the riots, we've had a hate campaign on TikTok, against myself and against my tenants, but thought nothing of it.

"Some people in Ballymena do not like foreign nationals, even though they are good working people, they don't understand that."

He added: "Social media has a real problem with misinformation, and there seems there is nothing the police can do."

'Police could do nothing - something has to change'

Mr Carson said he "complained 10 days ago to police officers about the online hate" he was getting, and that names and the address to his farm were published online, but that police "could do nothing".

"Now if they can do nothing, the politicians have to sort that out. Something has to change.

Mr Carson says he has been the victim of a hate campaign on TikTok (screenshot above) - it is understood they are being made by a small number of people

"It wears you down. We basically knew we were going to be attacked and the police said they could do nothing, and then we were attacked."

Mr Carson said "politicians are failing us" and he believes they should "try and tone down the racial tensions".

He also said "something really should be done" about the misinformation spreading on social media.

Mr Carson said "everybody was afraid" during the attack on Sunday.

"We were in great panic. We didn't know whether we would be attacked. We saw flames on the vehicles and it was all a great shock," adding "everybody was very fearful".

Asked about the TikTok messages, the PSNI said: "Police received a report on Thursday 21st August and are currently making enquiries to determine if any offences have been committed."

Six vehicles were destroyed in the attack

One of the Filipino victims, who did not want to be named, spoke to BBC News NI about the ordeal.

"I didn't expect this, I was just planning on getting some sleep and going to work tomorrow.

"This has never happened before. We've lived here for about two and a half years."

Confused by the attack, the man said he "didn't know we had enemies here".

"We didn't come here for any reason, Filipinos are in every country, just for work, we are not illegal, we pay tax.

"Please don't attack us personally, we can fix everything in a peaceful way."

Attacks are 'wrong'

The Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) MP for the area, Jim Allister, said the attacks were "wrong" and that "we are taking steps with the police and with TikTok".

Speaking on the Nolan Show, Allister added that "those who were attacked are lawful migrants".

"They came here on work visas. They're not illegals. They're not undocumented. They didn't come here until they had a job to go to."

Mr Carson told the programme: "The problem of illegal immigrants has been blown out of proportion."

He said many of the Roma people that "were put out of Ballymena were working hard in the food processing factories".

The Alliance assembly member, Eoin Tennyson, called on politicians to "take responsibility for our language".

He also said the nature of the debate on immigration "has created an environment where this kind of violence has flourished".

The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) assembly member, Jon Burrows, said he was "surprised that the police did not find a crime there of incitement or some other form of criminal harassment" and called for more patrols.

"To start posting the details and the address of someone who houses legal migrants and spread disinformation about them, in my view, is likely to be a crime," he added.

Sinn Féin assembly member Philip McGuigan said the attack was "absolutely outrageous".

"This is a continuation of the disgraceful, evil and reprehensible racist attacks that fly in the face of the vast majority of the people and communities who are welcoming and embrace diversity," he said.

The PSNI said they received a report at about 22:10 BST that six vehicles had been set alight and were destroyed.

"Police continue to appeal to anyone with any information in relation to the incident, which is being treated as a racially-motivated hate crime," a spokesman said.

Support for targeted workers

Manufacturing NI was contacted by companies in Ballymena during the violence in June.

The group's chief executive Stephen Kelly said companies should do what they can to support foreign workers being targeted.

"What had been happening at the start of the summer was the employers were bringing in their staff and explaining that this is unacceptable, that they're very much valued parts of the workforce and the community and that they would offer any support they could," he said.

He said this could include help with housing and "potentially involving the PSNI and supporting them in conversations with the police".

"That's what good employers have always been doing, regardless of whether they're Filipino or whether they're from Portglenone.

He said they were making an "enormous contribution" to the Northern Ireland economy.

Rise in race hate crime in NI

Last Thursday three homes in north Belfast were attacked.

A house occupied by a woman and her two children, aged 12 and 14, had the living room window smashed and graffiti saying "locals only" was daubed on walls

Another house in Manor Street and one in nearby Summerhill Court, were also damaged.

Police are investigating a potential link between all three incidents.

And on Saturday a window was smashed and graffiti daubed on the wall of a property in the Killaughey Road area of Donaghadee in County Down.

A woman and her three young children were in the property at the time of the attack, which police have said was racially motivated.

Recent data showed race hate crime is at a record level in Northern Ireland.

In the 12 months to the end of June, there were 1,329 crimes with a race motivation.

This was up by 434 year-on-year and was the highest figure since records began in 2004.