A petrol bomb attack on a pensioner's home in Derry was today blamed on people trying to stoke up sectarian tensions in the run-up to the summer marching season.
Nationalist SDLP Assembly member Mr Pat Ramsey called on all political and community leaders to condemn the attack on the home of a woman in her 70s in Upper Bennett Street.
The pensioner was not injured when two petrol bombs were thrown over a fence from Fountain Street, landing on the roof of her house shortly after midnight. One device ignited but fell to the ground and burnt itself out.
The property sustained minor damage. Mr Ramsey said the attack was nakedly sectarian.
"It is worrying that the incidence seems to be rising as we head into the main marching season," the Foyle MLA said.
"There is a clear duty on all public leaders and people of influence to condemn such attacks, from either side, in straightforward and unequivocal terms.
"There is no place for this type of act in the new society we are trying to create. The throwing is usually done by very young people who are out for kicks and may not have fully considered the implications of taking a lethal weapon in their hands.
"But they are being manipulated by fireside directors who know exactly what they are doing. The directors need to be apprehended and given custodial sentences."
Detectives in Strand Road in the city have asked anyone with any information about the incident to help their investigation.