DUP mayor defends response to Portadown race attack
A Democratic Unionist mayor today defended his response to racial attacks in his area after he was urged to take a stronger line.
Craigavon Mayor David Simpson disputed Sinn Féin claims that his response to a petrol bomb attack on a Portuguese family in Portadown on Saturday night was minimalist.
The home of a Portuguese woman and her two-year-old child sustained scorch damage to a front window and wall in the attack which occurred on the Armagh Road at around 8.20pm.
Police have urged to other people in the area who saw anything suspicious to come forward.
Sinn Féin Assembly member John O’Dowd criticised Mr Simpson, saying it was widely known that members of the Ulster Volunteer Force were behind racial attacks and unionist leaders should immediately confront the problem head-on.
“This minimalist response from the Mayor of Craigavon will give little comfort to those members of the migrant worker community in Portadown who are being threatened and intimidated now,” the Upper Bann MLA argued.
“Many people are aware that the UVF is behind a whole series of racist attacks in Portadown which has forced people from their homes and has also seen people assaulted and, in one case, stabbed and seriously injured.
DUP mayor Simpson, who is also an Upper Bann MLA, replied: “John O’Dowd says the UVF is involved in racial attacks in this area. I think the onus is on him to put any evidence he has before the PSNI, so police officers can investigate it."
Portadown has a number of Portuguese families living in the town, employed in local factories. It isn’t the first time the community has been targeted.
In August, the homes of two Portuguese families were targeted when a number of people kicked and battered in the doors of their flats in Moeran Park in an early morning attack.
Members of the Filipino and Vietnamese communities have also been victims of racial attacks in the town.
Mr O’Dowd, who leads Sinn Féin’s group on Craigavon Council, said today the campaign of racial harassment in the area urgently needed to be confronted and stamped out.
“The Mayor of Craigavon should be taking the lead on this, not by talking about a multi-cultural event next year, but by calling the party leaders within Craigavon Council together immediately to organise a council-sponsored anti-racist rally in Portadown immediately.”
