Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
UVF BEHIND THREATS TO CATHOLIC FAMILIES
PSNI chief slams loyalists for intimidation at mixed estate
BELFAST YESTERDAY
THE chief constable has blamed the UVF for issuing threats to four Catholic families in a cross-community housing scheme.
George Hamilton yesterday said loyalists were behind the intimidation of residents in Cantrell Close, East Belfast.
The move follows a week of growing pressure on the force to confirm who it believed issued the threats.
Mr Hamilton said: “There are people using the guise of the UVF who we believe are members of that organisation who are threatening people because of their community background, because of their religion, to leave their home – that is not acceptable.”
He added the loyalist group was so “chaotic” the PSNI was not yet sure whether the threats were supported by its leadership or by individual members.
Mr Hamilton said: “We are of the view there’s people purporting to be of East Belfast UVF who have been behind those threats.
“Whether or not that is an organisational position we don’t know because it is a chaotic disorganised crime group.
“They have no legitimacy, they are a scourge on the community.”
Cantrell Close, off the Ravenhill Road, was supposed to be a flagship cross-community development as part of Stormont’s Together Building United Communities programme.
Mr Hamilton vowed to take tough action against the East Belfast UVF but expressed frustration witnesses and individuals with information were not willing to give statements through fear of the group.
He said: “We are going to make life difficult for them because they are a scourge on that community.”
The police chief noted the social housing development was supposed to be an example for shared living, adding: “What an irony that is.”
Following the intimidation of the Catholic families, two Protestant community workers living nearby, both OAPS, were threatened this week.
Mr Hamilton said it was too early in the investigation to say whether dissidents were to blame. He added: “This has only just emerged in the last 24 hours, people want us to jump to conclusions, we are police officers, we go where the investigation takes us – we don’t know about that yet.
“But whatever the source of any of these threats or intimidation, it is not acceptable – we are a society that should be moving on and living together.”
Cantrell Close was hit with another controversy in the summer when loyalist flags were erected on lamp posts.
A community group in East Belfast said the emblems had been taken down as a gesture of “goodwill” and in an attempt to de-escalate tensions in the area.
Mr Hamilton was asked whether the lack of a power-sharing government was creating a vacuum paramilitaries were exploiting.
He said a functioning Executive would help create a more “stable” society and encouraged MLAS to strike a deal to restore Stormont.