Two Filipino nurses were yesterday considering leaving their home in Co Antrim after it was attacked by a suspected racist mob for a second time in a week.
The women, who both work at Craigavon Hospital, have been living in the Killicomaine area of Portadown with two other Filipinos for almost a year.
At around 2 a.m. yesterday, the windows of the house on Granville Street were smashed in what police believe was a racially-motivated attack.
It follows an incident last Thursday when a boulder was thrown through the living room window of the house, along with bricks and potted plants.
"We are not doing any harm to the Irish people," said one of the women.
"The people are very pleasant. They recognise that we are nurses in Craigavon. That is why we are thinking, 'Why do they do this kind of harm'?"
The incident was condemned by Ulster Unionist leader Mr David Trimble as well as Sinn Féin Assembly member Mr John O'Dowd and the nationalist SDLP Assembly member Ms Dolores Kelly.
Speaking from Westminster, Mr Trimble said the rise in such incidents was "shameful and repugnant".
"Ultimately the problem needs to be addressed with an adequate policing response, and I welcome moves by government to introduce legislation which will give the courts power to increase sentences for racially-motivated attacks."
Last week it was revealed that the number of racist attacks in Northern Ireland rose by 60 per cent over the past 12 months, with assaults on gays and lesbians doubling.
Chinese families, Africans and eastern Europeans had all being targeted during a racist campaign that had been particularly intense in the loyalist Village district of south Belfast.
Among the 267 racist incidents last year were attacks on Filipino nurses in Ballymena, Co Antrim, in March 2003, and an assault on a Chinese man and his pregnant wife five days before Christmas, which left the man with a fractured skull.
