Alliance Deputy Leader and East Belfast Assembly member Naomi Long has expressed her distress and anger at an attack on a Catholic church in Ballyhackamore. Parishioners arrived at the church to find excrement daubed on the seats and posters defaced with racist and sectarian slogans.
Naomi Long stated: “To defile any building in this way is shameful, but to do it to a church is to disrespect people and to disrespect God.
“I simply do not understand the mentality of these people. To attack a church which does so much good work, much of it on a proactive, cross-community basis through the Belmont Council of Churches, is intolerable. This is not just an attack on a church, but an attack on the entire community.
“I trust anyone who has any information concerning this vile attack will contact the police immediately. In the spirit of Christian and human unity, I would like to offer my strong support to parishioners.”