A further-education college in east Belfast was reportedly invaded yesterday by a gang of masked men who tried to single out Catholic students.
The incident occurred yesterday morning at Belfast Institute in Tower Street, only a few blocks from the scene of ongoing sectarian clashes between loyalists and nationalists living in the Short Strand enclave.
According to students in the building at the time, a number of masked men burst in and attempted to identify students from the Short Strand before locking a number of them in a room. One female student said the masked men had demanded that they pronounce the letter "H".
A Sinn Féin councillor for the area, Mr Joe O'Donnell, described the incident as "yet another aspect of the humanitarian crisis" facing nationalists in east Belfast.
"The people here are cut off from medical facilities, shops and now from places of education. We are trying to set up emergency supplies but the surrounding loyalist areas are trying to strangle us."
Mr O'Donnell alleged that a number of shopkeepers in the area had been warned not to serve Catholics.
The Progressive Unionist Party MLA for the area, Mr David Ervine, whose party politically represents the Ulster Volunteer Force, said he did not believe that loyalist paramilitaries had been involved in the incident at the college.
"Our community is saying there were women and not men involved and that there was no paramilitary involvement. This is still not a good situation but we are trying to sort it out."
Mr Ervine denied that nationalists in the area were under siege, saying recent events had been a "community reaction, not a paramilitary one".
A teachers' union representative, Mr Tom McKee, condemned what he described as a "sectarian invasion" of the college, adding: "There is no justification anywhere for this form of thuggery, and particularly in a school or college. This sort of behaviour is reminiscent of the attacks which the Brownshirts perpetrated on the Jewish community in Germany in the 1930s."
Earlier, police and the British army moved into Lower Newtownards Road area after loyalist and nationalist factions clashed outside a doctor's surgery. The two sides blamed each other for the disturbance. Army engineers are due to put screens on top of the existing "peace wall" between loyalist Cluan Place and nationalist Clandeboye Gardens, with a further screen to be erected at Bryson Street.
Announcing the measure, the North's security minister, Ms Jane Kennedy, said she would have preferred not to have to take such a decision but felt compelled to react to the "serious situation on the ground".
In north Belfast, meanwhile, two homes in Cambrai Street, believed to belong to pensioners, were attacked with bricks in the early hours of yesterday. A number of windows were broken. The DUP MP for the area, Mr Nigel Dodds, blamed republicans for the incident.