Police investigating incidents as racially motivated hate crimes after drivers forced to flee
A group of men in Belfast have surrounded and attacked two cars and forced their drivers to flee in suspected racially motivated hate crimes.
At least a dozen men, some masked, targeted the motorists on Monday evening near Connswater retail park in what appeared to be the latest incident in a vigilante campaign against migrants in the east of the city.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland said it was investigating both incidents as racially motivated hate crimes.
Northern Ireland’s justice minister, Naomi Long, said anti-migrant sentiment in the region was growing and that racism and sectarianism were linked. “I would also urge people not to get involved in this despicable behaviour,” she said. “You will be held to account and the penalties could include a prison sentence. As a society, we must not stand by and tolerate racism or intimidation.”
