They live among nationalists but grew up on the other side of the peaceline. Protestants in the Short Strand tell Suzanne Breen that loyalists caused recent sectarian violence in east Belfast
Carol says when loyalists mounted loudspeakers and blasted rave versions of Orange songs into the nationalist Short Strand, she knew all the tunes.
She has lived in the small Catholic enclave in east Belfast for 14 years but she is a Shankill Road Protestant. Her husband is a Catholic from the Short Strand and they have two children.
Initially, they lived on the Shankill but were put out so they set up home where her husband had grown up. "I've never had any trouble from people here," she says. "Everybody knows I'm a Protestant but I have been welcomed with open arms. Those making my life a nightmare are from the part of the community I was born into."
There are about 60 Protestants in the 3,000-strong population of Short Strand. They call themselves the "forgotten residents" because they say the media, the police and the British government prefer to deal in "sectarian stereotypes".
Carol and her friends Liz and Jean - also Protestants who married Catholics - say they want to publicise that "the Short Strand community is a very tolerant one which has welcomed us and it is loyalists, not our nationalist neighbours, who are to blame for the sectarian violence".
The three women live right on the peace line in the Clandeboye Estate. Jean grew up in the staunchly unionist Newtownards Road area. She has five children and moved into Short Strand 30 years ago. "Since May our homes have been under sustained attack from loyalists day and night," she says. "They have thrown everything at us - pipe-bombs, petrol bombs, fireworks packed with nails, dinner plates, parts of washing machines, even Perry Como records. They have used sleep-deprivation tactics, blasting music and blowing whistles to keep us awake at night.
"There are only two small grocery stores in the Short Strand. We have always shopped on the (Protestant) Newtownards and Albertbridge roads but we are prevented from doing that now.
"They have blocked us from using other services located in or near Protestant streets, including the dentist's, doctor's, chemist's and post office. They have stopped food and furniture stores and a Chinese take-away from delivering to this area." There has been no trouble for the past fortnight but the women believe it is only a lull. "Short Strand Scum Keep Out" and "No Short Strand Taigs On These Roads", has appeared on the walls of surrounding Protestant roads. Apart from Short Strand, east Belfast is solidly unionist.
Liz, who has lived in the Short Strand for six years and has one son, says nationalist violence has been purely in "response" to loyalist attacks. "Of course, when people's homes are under attack, they don't stand back and do nothing.
"But violence from the nationalists has been defensive or retaliatory. The attacks do not start from this side." Jean is angry that the media and the police present it as "tit-for-tat" violence. "The aggression is all from the loyalists," she says.
Carol's father is heavily involved in the Orange Order and the Masonic lodge and she has taken her children to see him march on the Twelfth of July. She has relatives in the police and is angry at how the force has handled the Short Strand situation.
"They have been useless. I've seen a grown man crying and begging them to protect his home and they did absolutely nothing. I said to one policeman that they weren't meant to be like the old RUC, they were the new Police Service of Northern Ireland. 'That's just what you call us,' he said back to me.
"I always thought Catholics were moaners when they complained about the police. Now I know why they've never liked them." Jean says her father keeps telling her the police will sort out the trouble "and I keep telling him they aren't interested in protecting us."
The women say the sectarian violence has left them feeling very vulnerable. "The loyalists know who we are. They know we are Protestants who have chosen to live with Catholics and they hate us more than they hate the Catholics. They think we are traitors," says Liz.
"I'm scared when my mother and step-father visit our home. It's not that anybody here would hurt them but I'm worried loyalists on the other side will take their car registration number and pay them a visit." Jean says she tries to be as discreet as possible when she is visiting her parents, who are in their 80s, in Protestant east Belfast. "I'm frightened somebody will see me and order me not to come back.
"My father took a stroke in April and I had to move in with my mother for a while. It's important that I visit them so I sneak in early in the morning. That is an awful way to live but we haven't been left with any other choice."