The Ulster Unionist Party’s East Belfast MLA Andy Allen has condemned those responsible for recent hate crimes in the city.
Mr Allen said:
“There have been a number of recent incidents in the form of hate crimes which demand condemnation from all right thinking people.
“One took the form of cowardly racist attacks on domestic properties of Sudanese people in east Belfast and the other saw two pigs heads being left outside St Luke’s Church of Ireland in Northumberland Street in West Belfast.
“Such attacks are the product of closed minds which cannot cope with difference. They are also an attack on the core British values of fairness, decency, tolerance and respect for others.
“The Ulster Unionist Party has consistently condemned all and any attacks on people and property no matter the motivation. Sectarian attacks, racists attacks, homophobic attacks; all are wrong and have no place in the Northern Ireland we are trying to build for our children.
“In any democracy people have the right to express their views but they have no right to attack property or seek to intimidate any individual or group. That is not democracy, that is fascism and those responsible bring only shame on the good name of Northern Ireland and its people.”