Strengthened security foiled a petrol-bomb attack on the home of an SDLP Assembly member in Larne, Co Antrim, early on Saturday morning.
Mr Danny O'Connor was at home with his mother, father and sister when a gang tried to break a window of the family home at Churchill Road and throw a petrol bomb into the house.
The SDLP politician, who has been attacked on previous occasions, had toughened glass installed at his home some time ago. When the attackers, believed to be local loyalists, were unable to break the window, they abandoned the bomb in the driveway of the house.
Mr O'Connor, who is an outspoken critic of loyalist attacks in the area, said he would not be silenced by the incident.
"I will not be stopped by loyalist thugs from doing the job I was elected for. This incident will only strengthen my resolve," he told BBC Radio Ulster.
The Northern Ireland Unionist Party Assembly member for the area, Mr Roger Hutchinson, condemned those responsible for the attack, which he described as a "despicable attack on an elected politician".
Meanwhile, a GAA social club in Co Antrim was badly damaged in an arson attack early yesterday morning. Sectarian slogans were also painted on the walls of Cloney GAA club in Ahoghill, near Ballymena.
In a statement, the SDLP Assembly member for North Antrim, Mr Sean Farren, condemned the attack as a product of "deep-seated sectarianism" which had nothing to offer to either community. He said he was deeply worried by the increasing number of sectarian attacks across north Antrim.
"The GAA is a force for good in the community, providing as it does recreational facilities and competitive opportunities for thousands of young people. An attack on its premises is an attack on the whole community of which the GAA is a part," Mr Farren said.
The chairman of the Progressive Unionist Party in Ballymena, Mr Brian Lacey, said the attack did not help to foster mutual respect in the area. "We have been appealing to the nationalist community in the area to tolerate and respect those from the Protestant tradition. If this respect is not shown to nationalists in loyalist areas, it makes it very difficult to expect nationalists to respect our culture," he told BBC Radio Ulster.
A 29-year-old man was charged on Saturday with carrying out a petrol-bomb attack on two flats off the Antrim Road in north Belfast on Friday night. He was also accused of endangering the lives of two women living in the flats.
The man was remanded in custody and will again appear before Belfast Magistrates Court next month.