Three children attacked on their way to school

Three children have been attacked on their way to school in north Belfast. Police are treating the incident as sectarian.

Three children have been attacked on their way to school in north Belfast. Police are treating the incident as sectarian.

They said the attacker tried to grab one from a group of boys outside St Gabriel's secondary school on the Crumlin Road at 8.30 a.m. yesterday. He sped off in the direction of the loyalist Hesketh Road area on a motorcycle. It is thought he was carrying a metal bar. No one was hurt.

The incident followed a night of attacks on both Protestant and Catholic homes across north Belfast and on the home of a prominent Sinn Féin member in Antrim town. Mr Martin Meehan, a councillor in the town said: "Last night a gang of up to six men attacked the home of the Antrim chairman of Sinn Féin, Paddy Murray, in the Rathenraw estate."

The estate has experienced violent clashes between gangs from the area and the neighbouring Parkhall estate through the summer.

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Mr Meehan added: "The political leadership of unionism need to grasp this nettle. They need to be proactive in joining with the rest of us in opposing absolutely these sort of sectarian attacks."

In Belfast several people were treated for shock after a spate of attacks against homes and cars.

There were incidents in the Somerdale, Mountainview and Kingsmere areas in which fireworks and paint bombs were thrown and windows smashed.