A concerted series of sectarian assaults on Catholic homes, businesses and church property has been taking place under cover of the loyalist campaign surrounding the Drumcree stand-off, The Irish Times has discovered.
The attacks on Catholics and their property has taken place during the last nights of rioting and disorder. The arson attacks are apparently co-ordinated against Catholic homes, businesses and church property in parts of Antrim and Down where small Catholic communities are surrounded by large working class loyalist areas.
This type of campaign is a regular occurrence at times of loyalist agitations.
In Carrickfergus, Co Antrim, a large coastal town where the Catholic population has declined, largely from intimidation, to around 2,000, the last four houses occupied by Catholics on the Glenfield Estate were attacked with petrol bombs in the early hours of yesterday.
The four families, two of whom lived in the estate since it was built in the 1960s, had to flee under police protection leaving their homes to be burned out. Two of the families have young children and the others are middle-aged couples.
The loyalist mob, which is said to have been led by local members of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) also attacked the only Catholic-owned guest house in the town, the Marine Guest House, with petrol bombs.
The owners, who feared an attack, had prepared themselves with fire extinguishers. The proprietor was interviewed on local radio yesterday and declined to say why the business was targeted. When asked what she thought the reason for the attack was, she simply said people could be attacked "if you have one brown eye and one blue eye". She had run the business for 10 years but was now considering leaving Carrickfergus.
The proprietors had to evacuate 14 guests from the house.
A loyalist mob in Carrickfergus threw blast bombs at police and the home of a police officer in Carrickfergus was petrol bombed. The police officer's wife and children were evacuated and their house burned out.
At around 1.30 a.m. yesterday, the loyalists piled wood and tyres at the side of St Nicholas's Primary School, beside St Nicholas's Parochial House. The priests, who were also prepared for attack, were awake and immediately called the police and fire brigade who put out the blaze before it spread to the school which was only opened this year.
During the night police also had to protect St Colman's Catholic Church in Greenisland, part of the Carrickfergus parish from a loyalist mob. St Colman's has been under attack many times and was only re-opened last November after the last time it was burned down.
In Antrim town four Catholic families were forced to leave and had their homes burned on Sunday and Monday nights. A Protestant family had their home burned but this might have been a case of mistaken identity on the part of the mob, according to local people.
The Antrim violence is being carried out by a group which is part of the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF), the extreme group formerly led by the Portadown figure, Billy Wright.
In the early hours of yesterday the mob attacked and burned out two families on the Park Hall estate in Antrim where such attacks on Catholic homes are said to occur every Orange marching season. One of the families whose home was destroyed has young children. A middle-aged couple lived in the second house.
Also during the night, a loyalist mob assembled and marched on St Comgall's but withdrew when police barred their access to the church. Local Catholics believe the mob's intention was to burn the church. The Antrim LVF group is suspected of being responsible for some of the 10 arson attacks on Catholic churches on a single night a week ago, in particular, the attack on the small Catholic Church at Aldergrove which was visited by the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair.
At around 2 a.m. yesterday three masked men approached the parochial house beside St Colman's Church, in Dromore, Co Down. The parish priest, Fr Gerry Conway was also expecting trouble and had stayed up with a mobile telephone. He turned on the security lights outside the house and the men fled but threw petrol bombs into the garage, destroying Fr Conway's car and other property in the garage.
St Colman's has been attacked many times. The church has been burned down three times and the parochial house twice. The other church in Dromore parish, All Saints in Ballela, only re-opened in May after having been burned down in August 1994.
Trouble had been expected in Ballymena. The Catholic community in the southern side of the market town has been depleted over the years by intimidation and attack and the Catholic church at Harryville was the subject of a 20-month picket by loyalists. There had been 400 Catholic households in the Harryville parish, but there are now only 20.
Loyalists planned to renew their picket outside Saturday evening mass at Harryville but the parish decided to suspend the evening mass for July and August. The loyalists were left with nothing to picket. Morning mass is still held at Harryville and the Saturday evening service has been switched to All Saint's Church on the less-troubled northern side of the town for the duration of the summer.
On Sunday night strong glue was poured into the locks on the doors at the Church of Our Lady, which is surrounded by loyalist flag and bunting bedecked streets in Harryville.
There were other attacks on Catholic houses in Antrim, Down and at Coleraine, Co Derry since the weekend. The Northern Ireland Housing Executive said yesterday it had received a total of 11 requests for emergency re-housing since last week.