The front room of Bridie Madden's house on the peace line in north Belfast is a mess. Everything is covered in paint. The new wooden floor, the television, the Mexican pine cabinet, the marble fireplace, even the African carvings.
Bridie was making tea in the kitchen of the house on Clanchatton Street at 7.30 a.m. on Sunday when she heard whistling. "I thought nothing of it. I reckoned it was somebody walking their dog."
Seconds later, the window of the front room was smashed and paint bombs thrown in. The same thing was simultaneously happening at other houses on the street and on neighbouring Newington and Parkend Streets.
A group of 50 loyalists had arrived in minibuses. They waved guns in the air and, armed with bricks and baseball bats, set about destroying whatever they could. They smashed the windscreens of all the cars in the street and then covered the vehicles with paint.
The assault was co-ordinated through a series of whistles and lasted 15 minutes. The men, some of whom were wearing balaclavas, tried to break down the doors of several houses. One woman hid with her children in the bathroom. Houses and cars in the nationalist streets are stoned at least every fortnight, according to local residents.
But this was different. "Normally it's just a crowd of teenagers involved. This time it was adult men," says Bridie. "They shouted as they left that they would be back to burn us out." The minibuses drove off to the loyalist Tigers' Bay, a few hundred yards down the road. Two families have decided to leave.
Sarah (67) has lived in the area for 27 years and is refusing to move. The only item not splattered with paint in her front room is a picture of the Sacred Heart. Everything else has been covered: the carpet and sofa, a lampshade, photos of her family, even her plants. The paint is yellow and white. "They were using the Papal colours for us," says Sarah's daughter Patricia.
Across the road in Tigers' Bay, UDA flags flutter from the lampposts. Loyalist sources confirm the residents' belief that the paramilitary group was responsible.
There has been a dramatic increase in attacks on Catholic homes and property in the North in the past week. Those targeted live either in mainly Protestant or flashpoint areas. Yesterday, there were arson attacks on three houses in Ballymena, Co Antrim.
There was a petrol-bomb attack on a house in Bawnmore, north Belfast. Two houses in Carrickfergus, Co Antrim, were paintbombed and a Catholic church under construction in the town was damaged in an arson attack. There have also been attacks on Protestant houses and property.
Several families living near the Garvaghy Road are being intimidated by nationalists. An Orange hall in Carnlough, Co Antrim, was badly damaged in an arson attack. But the attacks on Catholic houses have generally been more severe and widespread
An SDLP councillor in Ballymena, Mr Declan O'Loan, says loyalists could offer no excuses for attacks on Catholics in the town. There have been no attacks on Protestant homes or Orange halls in Ballymena, he says.
In north Belfast, nationalist community and political leaders attribute the attacks to the release of UDA prisoners from the Maze. "Their men are all out now," says one community activist. "There is no reason for them to behave themselves any more."
There is a widespread belief that the attacks are being orchestrated by one former prisoner who is a high-profile UDA commander in Belfast. Nationalists believe the man, who is opposed to the peace process, is collaborating with the Loyalist Volunteer Force and other UDA units to co-ordinate the attacks.
North Belfast Sinn Fein councillor Mr Gerard Brophy claims the UDA is attempting to restart the conflict by deliberately stirring up sectarian tensions in the hope of provoking the Provisional IRA into retaliatory action. "These incidents keep both the UDP and the UDA in the headlines."
Loyalist sources also say the UDA campaign is part of the paramilitary group asserting itself within loyalism. "The UDA is involved in a turf war with the UVF."
"Attacking Catholic houses and property gains the UDA popularity and helps its efforts to be top dog in loyalist areas. The UDA can say that while the UVF does nothing and its political representatives sit at Stormont, the UDA is still out there at the cutting edge."