Tensions rising ahead of Orange parades

11/07/2005 - 14:17:51
Tensions are rising in the North in advance of the Orange Order's annual Twelfth of July parades tomorrow.

A series of loyalist attacks on Catholic targets took place over the weekend, with a Catholic woman forced out of her home in the Co Antrim village of Ahoghill yesterday.

Sectarian graffiti has also been daubed on a Catholic church in nearby Ballymena, while loyalists in Belfast tried to set fire to a house in Ardoyne where a public meeting was held at the weekend to discuss tomorrow's parade in the area.

In the east of the city, loyalists have erected loudspeakers to broadcast sectarian music across the peaceline into the grounds of St Matthew's Church in the Short Strand.

A growing feud between the Ulster Volunteer Force and Loyalist Volunteer Force, meanwhile, is threatening to add to the tensions.

One man was killed overnight and a second was seriously injured in two shootings that are being linked to the feud.