Loyalist paramilitaries are responsible for a racist pamphlet calling for the expulsion of Chinese immigrants from an area of south Belfast, the Chief Constable said yesterday. Dan Keenan, Northern News Editor, reports.
Mr Hugh Orde was referring to a leaflet distributed throughout the Donegall Pass area which denounced Chinese residents and businesses and called on locals to preserve their Protestant Ulster heritage.
The leaflet declared that an "influx of yellow people" into the loyalist area has "done more damage than 35 years of the IRA's recent campaign of republican propaganda and violence waged against the Protestant community".
Police, nationalist and unionist politicians, community groups and clergy have reacted with outrage at the flyer.
It has been circulated in the area known for its Far Eastern businesses and communities. Asked on the BBC yesterday if he suspected loyalist paramilitaries, Mr Orde said: "It's self-evident. That's exactly where it comes from."
Pressed to identify which group, Mr Orde replied: "I won't attribute it at the minute. But the tone of the statement would make anyone with commonsense clear that it's from a loyalist paramilitary group.
"We are working very hard to find out who is responsible for this and we will act."
The incident closely follows publication of the policing plan, presented to the PSNI by the Policing Board, which set new targets for solving racially-motivated crime. Race crime as increased dramatically, especially in south Belfast, in recent years forcing many families from ethnic minorities to move.
Ms Anna Lo of the Chinese Welfare Association claimed nearly two thirds of immigrant families in the locality had been intimidated out of Donegall Pass.