Gerry Kelly, Sinn Féin: Fireworks thrown at his home

Sinn Féin MLA Gerry Kelly has condemned an attack in which two large fireworks were thrown at his west Belfast home.

It happened at 19:15 GMT on Sunday on the Falls Road. No-one was injured in what police called a "reckless" attack.

Mr Kelly said he was getting out of the shower when he heard "a huge bang".

This was the latest in a "sinister pattern of attacks and threats against public representatives", he said, but it would not deter him from serving the community.

Speaking on Monday, Mr Kelly said the fireworks were thrown out of a car which slowed down, then stopped.

One landed in the back yard and the other appeared to have hit the front of his house.

The scene was cordoned off for about two hours as Army technical officers found the fireworks and destroyed them.

"This is one of a number of incidents between my home and my office," he said.

"I'm not the only public representative who has been threatened and - may I say - journalists as well.

"This stuff has to be condemned and has to be put down.

"The message I would like to put out to them is that while they frightened my family and my neighbours, what they're doing will have no effect on public representatives - we will not be deterred from serving people as we have been serving for years. This has to stop and we need to stand up against it."

Mr Kelly said he did not know who was behind the latest attack but he did know that loyalists were responsible for an earlier bomb scare at his office.

Speaking about Sunday's attack, Supt Nigel Henry said: "Officers attended and conducted a search of the area.

"ATO examined what is believed to have been the remnants of fireworks, both of which had been destroyed.

"Thankfully, no one was injured in this reckless attack".