Nationalist residents of the Short Strand Road area of east Belfast last night blocked the road to protest against what they claim are ongoing attacks on Catholics in the area by loyalists.
The protest took place as a member of the British-Irish Secretariat paid a routine visit to the area, and to the Ardoyne interface area in north Belfast.
Sinn Féin councillor Ms Margaret McClenaghan said the visit was intended to provide officials with a first-hand account of people's lives under "sustained loyalist attacks".
"In what can only be described as a well-orchestrated campaign there has been 15 bomb attacks, nine shooting incidents and at least 20 additional attacks on persons and property in the space of three weeks," she said.
Meanwhile, a series of paint-bomb attacks on the homes of three Catholic families in Antrim yesterday were condemned by the Ulster Unionist MP for the area.
Mr David Burnside, speaking after the attacks in the Parkhall and Townparks housing estates, said: "Those who committed these cowardly acts must understand it in no way can forward whatever aims or beliefs they have."
SDLP Assembly member Mr Donovan McClelland said there was a "worrying pattern" of orchestrated sectarian violence and intimidation emerging in Antrim. He urged those with information to come forward. The South Antrim MLA said: "I am especially concerned about the wall of silence emanating from the unionist community in the area. I would urge unionist community leaders to use their influence to bring this campaign of intimidation to an end."
Sinn Féin councillor Mr Martin Meehan blamed loyalists for the paint-bomb attacks and confirmed his party had compiled a dossier of incidents in Antrim.
- (PA)