Racists won't force me from my home, says mum-of-two

The victim of a racist attack says she intends to keep her family in their north Belfast home.

Sia Fay was in her house in Manor Street with her two children, aged 12 and 14, when the window of their living room was smashed on Thursday night.

"There was graffiti on my walls saying 'locals only' and they had this sign on my door and on my car to say I'm a target," she said.

Ms Fay, who is a beauty therapist, moved into the house with her children in March and had already experienced a racist attack when the back window was smashed in July.

She said the latest incident had left her daughter shaken up.

Two other houses in north Belfast, one also in Manor Street and another in Summerhill Court, were damaged.

Police are investigating a potential link between all three incidents.

BBC News NI understands the two other properties were vacant.

Separately, police are treating an attack on a home in Donaghadee as a racially motivated hate crime.

A front door was damaged on a house in north Belfast

Ms Fay, who is originally from Nigeria, told BBC News NI she had to teach her children to be "resilient" and to understand that they would face racism.

She said she previously told them: "You just have to find a way to just deal with it".

Ms Fay said she had not been contacted by any neighbours, but she accepted "they might also be scared" about becoming targets if they were seen to provide support.

Ms Fay said she wanted to reach out to them and said she had spoken to another local migrant family about hosting a street party for the local community in the coming weeks.

"We would bring our food out, we would bring our African games, our African food, get other families to participate as well and just get to know everybody and realise we are not the enemy, we are not bad," she said.

Ms Fay believed this could help local people to realise "we are all the same irrespective of colour".

Justice minister's appeal

Following the attacks Justice Minister Naomi Long said politicians and public figures needed "to look at the language that they are using" around migration.

Long said some politicians were treating people "as less than human, and they are creating the conditions in which this kind of violence will flourish".

Speaking on BBC News NI's Good Morning Ulster programme, she said it was "disgusting" that anyone would be attacked in their own home.

"It's not acceptable to make excuses or try and rationalise it," the Alliance Party leader said.

"It needs to be condemned and it needs to stop."

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

Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) councillor, Jordan Doran, said people in north Belfast "don't want their community to be seen as racist because that's simply not true".

He said residents had been targeted in sectarian attacks for several years and called for a multi-agency meeting to address the problems and "drive home the message that these communities deserve investment".

"Any racist-type behaviours absolutely should be called out and that's what residents are calling for," Doran said.

"We need to see a collective message from across all the political parties in Northern Ireland."

Police are investigating a potential link between three incidents in north Belfast, including this one at Ms Fay's house

Long said immigrants were not responsible for problems such as deprivation and under-investment.

"In fact the issues that he [Doran] raised mostly lie with the DUP minister in the Department for Communities," she said.

She added: "I don't think there has been enough action by executive colleagues over the past 12 months."

Long said she noted that neither Communities Minister Gordon Lyons, or the first or deputy first minister, came on to Good Morning Ulster to discuss "tackling these issues for which they have responsibility".

Speaking on BBC Radio Ulster's Talkback programme, Sinn Féin MLA Carál Ní Chuilín said the attacks were targeting people who were working and contributing to the economy and community.

"A lot of these families are working in the Mater hospital and they are protecting our families, nursing them back to good health, supporting them when they get discharged from hospital and what to go home to a barricade behind their front and back doors," she said.

How common are race hate crimes in Northern Ireland?

Data released on Thursday 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.