`They can't stand me living in their midst'

Danny O'Connor looks out the window of his constituency office at the lines of blue, red and white bunting that zig-zag Larne's Main Street. There is no SDLP logo or sign above his door. "I try not to attract attention to myself," he says.

The Assembly member and his brother, Kevin, were both targets of separate loyalist bomb attacks on their homes last weekend. The incidents highlight the ongoing sectarian tensions that exist in the town, particularly in the mixed working class estates on its outskirts.

Driving through the Antiville and Craigyhill estates, which are both around one third Catholic, there can be little doubt of the influence wielded by the UDA/UFF in the area.

Blue UDA flags fly high from lamp posts, UFF stickers cover street signs, painted kerb stones, murals and slogans abound - "D Company simply the best", "No Dublin Rule".

"It's all a control thing. The UDA want to prove that what they say goes around here. They can't stand the idea of me living in their midst. When you see the area, can you really doubt who is behind the attacks? They just can't be called dissidents any more," he says.

But the Ulster Democratic Party, which is linked to the two loyalist organisations, has denied UDA involvement. "O'Connor is trying to score political points," says a party spokesman for the area, Mr William Cameron. As Danny O'Connor's car passes a playground near his house, which is brightly painted in the Union Jack colours, a man wearing a baseball hat leaning against a bus shelter breaks from his mobile phone call to shout abuse.

"How people with no known source of income can afford u £100 trainers and tracksuits is beyond me," says the 34-year-old Assembly member with a touch of irony. In the early hours of last Saturday morning a group of youths attempted to break the security glass of the home Mr O'Connor has lived in all his life, the house he still shares with his parents and sister.

"My mother woke up to the sound of the banging as they thudded on the special glass with bricks. They gave up and dumped the bomb in the driveway. Next morning there were mounds of dust from the bricks because they were hitting the window so hard."

His brother, Kevin (27), sat in shock for several hours after the pipe bomb was put through the letter box of his nearby flat two nights later. He had no phone and was afraid to go outside, fearing loyalists were waiting to attack him. But the O'Connor family are determined that they will not be forced from the area and Danny O'Connor has pledged that he will not be silenced.

The popular Assembly member has received good wishes from colleagues across the political spectrum, along with a letter of support from UUP leader, Mr David Trimble, and an instruction to "Keep your head down, big fella" from Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness.

"I'm saving at the moment to buy my parents their house. They can buy it from the executive for about u £10,000, which is very good value," he says.

On the night of the attack on Kevin O'Connor, a Catholic family in an estate about a mile away were also targeted. A pipe bomb hit the front wall of the house and exploded. For Martin and Veronica Kane, along with their four children, it was not a new experience. They were petrol bombed out of their home in the Antiville estate a year ago. After staying with relatives they recently set up home in Sallagh Park South, another mixed estate with a higher number of Catholics, that is free from loyalist paraphernalia. They thought they would be safe there.

A PETROL bomb and a sympathy card were left on their window sill in recent weeks and they knew all too well that they were again targets. Another man living in the estate, who did not wish to be named, has also had the same ominous message left on his window sill.

"It's gone beyond a joke around here - abuse has even been shouted at my dog," said the man, who is divorced and raising his two young sons. "I'd face them down but they won't even look in the eye unless they're a group," he said of the loyalist youths.

On the gable wall of the man's flat faded writing is still legible. "Billy Wright RIP". He is hoping security glass will be fitted to his home soon.

The man also is resentful of what he sees as a lack of action by the RUC. "People are getting lifted for carrying hurling sticks but these boys are walking around and no one is touching them."

There is unhappiness among the local nationalist community at three arrests made after disturbances two weeks ago in Seacourt, another mixed estate. Although predominantly Catholic, there are no nationalist symbols on the estate. Shots were fired at a police vehicle, stones were thrown at officers and a car belonging to a Protestant woman was set on fire after police entered the area investigating incidents of malicious damage and assault.

However, the local RUC superintendent, Ms Karen Kennedy, has insisted the force deals with sectarian violence in "a balanced and impartial way". It is understood low-profile arrests have been made in connection with the recent attacks on Catholics, and Ms Kennedy has indicated that more will follow. Mr Cameron, the local UDP branch chairman, says he believes the recent spate of attacks on Catholics represent revenge attacks for up to 12 attacks against Protestants in Larne over the summer months.

"Danny O'Connor has instructed us to call off the dogs but the dogs don't belong to us. But if anyone has cut the leashes, he has done it himself. "It is not up to us to find out who is carrying out these attacks but it is up to us to use our influence to stop the attacks as it does help the community as a whole. But O'Connor should also call for an end to attacks on Protestants," he adds.

According to Mr Cameron, the SDLP man is a "sectarian bigot" who was seen tearing down a loyalist flag. Mr O'Connor admits taking down the flag and ripping it up, saying it was put up on the lamp post outside his house to "wind him up".

The UDP had earlier this year tackled the issues of attacks on Catholics and the antisocial behaviour of local children over the Twelfth "and scored 100 per cent," says Mr Cameron.

"There wasn't one good word from O'Connor. If someone did something good I would praise them. But the shoe is on the other foot now because the nationalist community is the one that has wrecked and ruined."

On the sidelines of the dispute between O'Connor and the UDP, who have never spoken to each other in person, local unionist politicians have been accused of burying their heads in the sand about the current level of sectarian attacks in Larne.

The anti-agreement unionist, Mr Roger Hutchinson, of the Northern Ireland Unionist Party has accused the Ulster Unionist MP, Mr Roy Beggs, of "complacency and denial" after he asserted that the level of violence was being exaggerated.

The SDLP has turned its attention to the Larne council by-election on Wednesday. Party members in the area are "quietly confident" that their candidate, Mr Martin Wilson, will secure the seat in the staunchly unionist borough.

"In a warped way these attacks will mobilise support," said one activist as he collected flyers from the party offices. "They will galvanise support," agreed the SDLP Assembly member, Dr Alasdair McDonnell, who travelled up from Belfast to canvass for Mr Wilson. "But Larne has always been a tough town. In fact it's as tough now as it was in 1969."