Philippines seeks pledge on racist attacks in North

The Philippines is to seek assurances from the British government about the safety of its citizens in Northern Ireland following…

The Philippines is to seek assurances from the British government about the safety of its citizens in Northern Ireland following a recent racist attack on two Filipino couples living in Co Armagh.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said her country's foreign affairs officials would speak to their British counterparts about how to protect Filipinos living in the North.

"We condemn this attack, not only because the victims are Filipinos but because we abhor all forms of racism, what with more than eight million Filipinos in foreign lands and thousands of foreigners residing in our country," the President said.

She was speaking about last Wednesday's attack on two Filipino nurses and their husbands at Killicomaine, Portadown. A racist mob smashed windows at the couples' home, six days after throwing a boulder through the living-room window and pelting the house with bricks and pot plants.

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The two nurses, who work in Craigavon Hospital, said they were considering leaving the North because of the attacks.

The diplomatic intervention comes amid growing fears about racist attacks and other hate crimes.

Last week it was revealed that the number of racist attacks in Northern Ireland had risen by 60 per cent in the past 12 months, with assaults on gays and lesbians doubling.

Members of the Ulster Volunteer Force had been accused of stoking up racial tensions in loyalist areas. However, the leader of the Progressive Unionists, Mr David Ervine, whose party is linked to the UVF, has condemned all racial attacks and called for recognition that the problem extends to both communities.

Mr Ervine said Ms Arroyo's comments should serve as a wake-up call. "I think the fact that the President of the Philippines has had to make a statement like this is not just down to one attack but as a result of substantial racism towards the Filipino community," he said.

An SDLP Assembly member, Ms Dolores Kelly, said those who carried out this week's attack "bring shame on all of us . . . Once again Northern Ireland is getting international headlines for all the wrong reasons."

A Sinn Féin Assembly member, Mr John O'Dowd, described the President's intervention as "a very welcome development."

"Hopefully, now that this situation has gone international, it will shame the Northern Ireland Office into taking action against what is an orchestrated campaign against ethnic minority communities, mostly by unionist paramilitaries," he said.

A spokeswoman for the PSNI said it had recently completed training a network of minority liaison officers, which police hoped would make it easier for people to report hate crimes.

Chinese families, Africans and eastern Europeans have all been targeted during a racist campaign that has been particularly intense in the loyalist Village district of south Belfast.

(Additional reporting PA)