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ISSUE 2180 Monday 14 May 2001

Tourists hurt as Belfast erupts
By David Sharrock, Ireland Correspondent

THREE Australian tourists were severely beaten in attacks over the weekend in Belfast, where riot police had to be called to end a second night of serious disturbances.

The young holidaymakers were attacked by a Roman Catholic gang wielding iron bars as they walked home from the city centre through east Belfast. Paul Tinkler, 25, from Melbourne, had to undergo plastic surgery yesterday after his ear was partially ripped off.

His brother, Matt, and a friend Luke Creamer were also attacked by up to 20 youths. It is believed that the nationalist attackers came from the Short Strand and had mistaken the tourists for young Protestants, whom they were waiting to ambush.

Early yesterday more violence erupted in the same area when Catholic youths from the same housing estate attacked homes in a Protestant area that abuts the Short Strand. Protestants living there have complained for some time that Catholics are trying to drive them out. The unexpected upsurge may also be an attempt to stoke sectarian tensions ahead of the "traditional" Drumcree disturbances in July.

Dozens of houses had their windows smashed, many cars were damaged and the playground of a primary school was almost completely covered in broken glass from its smashed windows. One elderly Protestant resident said: "We thought we had left all this behind us years ago."

John Stewart was caught in the middle of the rioting as he tried to move his car to safety. He said: "They surrounded me and started rocking the car and smashing the windows with iron bars. Then one of them threw a lit petrol bomb in through the smashed window to set the car on fire with me inside. I was very lucky to get out in time."

David Ervine of the Progressive Unionist Party, the political wing of the loyalist terrorist Ulster Volunteer Force, condemned the violence and called on community leaders to resolve local problems before they got out of control. Locals said the loyalist residents were taken by surprise by the early-morning onslaught but within minutes gangs of Protestant youths were on the streets and the fighting spread into a neighbouring nationalist area.

-- Anonymous, May 13, 2001