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Catholic teenager beaten by loyalist gang in Coleraine
Wednesday, 8 July 2009
A Catholic teenager has been attacked and beaten up by a loyalist gang in Coleraine, police have said.
The attack on the 17-year-old was being treated as a sectarian hate crime, a police spokeswoman confirmed.
The victim was assaulted and verbally abused during the day in a carpark in the Co Londonderry town's Long Commons.
A group of five young men, described as wearing hoodies, carried out the attack at around noon on Monday and called the victim “a Fenian bastard”.
Police appealed for anyone who witnessed the attack to contact them.
The teenager was not understood to have suffered serious life-threatening injuries.
Community tensions have continued to run high in Coleraine in the wake of the murder by a loyalist mob of Catholic community worker Kevin McDaid in May.
Sinn Fein councillor Billy Leonard said he was not surprised by the incident.
“It's not just restricted to the Twelfth period and the marching season in general, but obviously it always comes with more intensity at this time of year,” he said.
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Comments
54 Comments
sean, your most recent post speaks volumes. So, anyone in ni, (ie the majority, of all religions) who want to stay british arent worth talking to! What about mutual respect? You are showing your true colours now, the orange in your flag most really hurt you! Oh, and another thing, there is no such country as ireland. there is the irish republic, and there is northern ireland, part of the united kingdom of great britain and northern ireland. FACT.
Posted by stephen | 10.07.09, 13:35 GMT
sean, northern ireland is part of the uk, fact. the flag of the uk is the union flag, fact.
the orange on the tricolour is anything but significant. The orange order cant walk to honour the dead, both protestant and catholic in the great war.
you cant afford yourselves, never mind this part of the uk.
please wise up!
Posted by stephen | 10.07.09, 13:28 GMT
the likes of mick and stephen arent worth talking to keep ireland irish for prodestant and catholic alike all proud to be irish.
Posted by sean | 10.07.09, 09:27 GMT
What on earth is wrong with you people over there? Are you sick, or what?
Posted by John form London | 10.07.09, 09:18 GMT
That old orange blood boiling on the 12th. Any Catholic will do. Welcome to Orange Mess. I mean Orange Fest.
Posted by No Longer fooled republican | 10.07.09, 09:16 GMT
Its the same old story! one side blaming the other, if it was looked at in the proper light one can relate to why these young thugs believe that they are real heroes in a pack, the blame is not the religion its the parents and grandparents and beyond,Ed McMurtry
Posted by edward mcmurtry | 10.07.09, 07:03 GMT
This comes as no surprise, these scum dont want peace, its the same old loyalist story, know your place
Posted by Joe O'Rourke | 09.07.09, 19:42 GMT
stephen the tri color is the flag of Ireland, Belfast, Portadown is Ireland, even though we are occuppied at the moment our Brittish friends are looking for a way to hand it back to its rightful owners, you can be a part of it and discover you own Irishness or you can go on pretending to be something that you are not. Remember Green for one tradition Orange for the other and the white represents peace, it is your flag to.
Posted by sean | 09.07.09, 19:21 GMT
Tweedle dee and Tweedle dum, or should I say mickey and stephen 1, Sean didn't say what types of flags he questioned the mentality of those who erect them? mickey your insistence that they are union and ulster flags shows you have a serious chip on your shoulder regarding the same flags. You also seem to think the BT has some anti protestant bias. I note they haven't reported on the paint attacks on catholic churches in Ballymena and the UYM threat to ethnic minorities.
Your chip showing again??
Posted by Bren | 09.07.09, 18:24 GMT
sean, you must have been driving through andytown or somewhere, yes, I agree people shouldnt fly foreign flags, the tricolour should only be flown in the republic.
Posted by stephen | 09.07.09, 15:15 GMT
Sean, what do you personally find "offensive" about Union and Northern Ireland flags? What is "bitter" about their being displayed and why are those who fly them "living in the dark ages"?
I'm asking you this because it appears you're just trotting out 'sound-bytes'.
Posted by m!ck | 09.07.09, 13:51 GMT
as i drive about the north during my day to day bussiness i look at at all of the flags flying year in year out and i ask myself what is the mentality of these people who keep putting them up, then the other day i watched the movie with liam neeson in it called shindlers list and i realised the type of bitter people who are intent on keeping this part of Ireland in the dark ages.
Posted by sean | 09.07.09, 13:20 GMT
Mcree you are a typical irish american . i have lived in norn irn all my life untill 5 years ago when i moved to florida.the amount of ppl i have heard describe themselves as irish american is laughable. if you were born in the usa you are american not irish. my goodness you dont hear of swiss american or danish american.your hatred of everything british is typical of your kind but at least i have been able to educate ppl where i live and they know good and bad on both sides!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by Jim Bennett | 09.07.09, 10:36 GMT
The difficulty with reporting news in NI is remaining consistent and impartial. (Not the Belfast Telegraph I should add) but view the websites of our two main broadcasters in NI and you'll see that Orange Halls are attacked by VANDALS whereas Catholic churches in Ballymena are attacked by SECTARIAN thugs. Spot the difference.
Lazy journalism or deliberate journalistic favourism?
Posted by m!ck | 09.07.09, 10:00 GMT
The town that time forgot
Posted by BAILY | 09.07.09, 08:32 GMT
As someone who grew up in the suffolk area, where protestants youths were beaten and bullied on a regular basis without the media reporting it . To the extent that hundreds of families were forced to leave . I find the coverage of the coleraine events very one sided , although i would like to add that i am totally against such attacks.
Posted by sam | 09.07.09, 01:36 GMT
Now that everyone has stated their biased opinions,how about offering some solutions! For example, reporting these thugs to the PSNI,telling your representatives in government to put more police on the streets, demand stiffer custodial sentences with no time off for so called 'good behaviour'. Hold parents responsible for their children's behaviour. I am not living in N.I. at this moment in time,but I still care what happens. Tell those overpaid MLAs to 'stop condemning ',but to take action.
Posted by RMS | 09.07.09, 00:50 GMT
joanna what exactly are you trying to prove? that loyalists are worse than republicans? these little thugs' actions have no support from the loyalist community whatsoever and your comments clearly show that your still stuck in the past. please do us all a favour and grow up or at least stop posting your rubbish on here. you're obviously bitter.
Posted by Matty | 09.07.09, 00:03 GMT
Its absolute rubbish to claim that these attacks are mainly carried out by Loyalists on republicans, in actual fact the opposite of this is true. Only a week ago a young Protestant man was beaten to a pulp by a republican mob at Scarva road in Banbridge. Where was the condemnation of this by republicans and their representatives? As is the norm they are deathly silent-hypocrites!
Posted by richard | 08.07.09, 21:38 GMT
Of course Joanna, nationalists never done anything bad. All those murders of policemen and soldiers were carried out by loyalists. I suppose those people in Celtic tops that jumped me in Ballymena were loyalists posings as nationalists. Get a grip you silly girl. All sides are as bad as each other. Loyalists are always going to dress in silly hats and march, just the same as nationalists will express their identity by playing their gaelic games in silly looking GAA tops.
Posted by W | 08.07.09, 20:51 GMT
54 Comments