Castlereagh Alliance Councillor and Alliance Youth & Sports Spokesperson, Michael Long, has condemned an attack on teenage members of a youth group outside the Council’s Dundonald International Ice Bowl in east Belfast which Police have described as sectarian.
In the incident on Saturday evening, two windows in their minibus were smashed and four members of the group were pushed as the Protestant church group in their early teens were mistaken for Catholics.
Cllr Long said, “I utterly condemn this attack on these young people and would ask anyone with information about the incident to contact the PSNI so that those behind it can be apprehended. I would like to wish those who have been attacked a speedy recovery.
“As an Alliance Councillor, I am particularly horrified that this attack may well have had a sectarian motive. It is a tragic inditement of our society that some people continue to object to Protestant and Catholic teenagers socialising together and it really is time that these sectarian thugs were dragged out of the dark ages.
“Dundonald International Ice Bowl is undoubtedly the Borough’s main leisure attraction and, as a Council, we will have to look to see if there are any additional measures that we could introduce to reduce the likelihood of further sectarian incidents.”