A SERIES of seemingly co-ordinated attacks on Catholic churches and a GAA club in Co Antrim has raised tensions ahead of the Twelfth demonstrations.
Churches were attacked with paint in Ballymena, including Harryville, which witnessed a protracted anti-Catholic demonstration nearly 10 years ago.
There were further attacks in nearby Portglenone, Ahoghill and Cullybackey.
Headstones in cemeteries adjacent to some of the churches were also attacked and daubed with paint. A car was also driven into the grounds of a GAA club in Ahoghill and set on fire.
Protestant churchmen, the Orange Order and unionist parties have condemned the attacks.
Nelson McCausland, the new DUP Minister for Culture, said: “Whether they are churches, GAA facilities or Orange halls, attacks on premises anywhere should be totally and unreservedly condemned.” Mr Nelson, who was in Co Donegal for talks with Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Éamon Ó Cuív, has been criticised by some in the Irish language lobby over his attitude to an Irish language Act for Northern Ireland.
Responding to the church attacks, former Presbyterian moderator Rev John Finlay said his church wanted to express its solidarity with “our Roman Catholic neighbours”.
“We regret what has happened. It is the actions of one or two who are totally unrepresentative of the wider community.”
A Protestant family has also been forced to leave their home in Rasharkin, Co Antrim, following intimidation. There has been a spate of incidents in the locality with attacks mounted on the local Orange Hall and on the Catholic church.
In other incidents, Greencastle Orange Hall in north Belfast was attacked and police said petrol bombs were thrown across a west Belfast interface from Stewartstown Road into the Carnanmore Park area. There was a further sectarian incident in Rathfriland, Co Down.
The Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland said it condemned without reservation the string of attacks it believed were aimed at increasing community tensions. “The people who attack our property or those who attack Catholic churches must be handed over to the police. Their actions are despicable and must be condemned by everyone.”
North Antrim Sinn Féin Assembly member Daithí McKay, condemning an attack on a GAA mural in Dunloy in his constituency, said there was a need for political leadership in the face of sectarian behaviour.