Politicians appeal for calm after riots

POLITICIANS appealed for calm and mediation in north Belfast yesterday following two days of rioting.

POLITICIANS appealed for calm and mediation in north Belfast yesterday following two days of rioting.

A Catholic man was rushed to hospital with a suspected heart attack at the weekend when loyalists attacked his home in the Limestone Road area.

He was released from hospital to evacuate the flat yesterday.

Two houses were smashed up and the windows in a number of others broken in the attack on the Catholic homes on Saturday which forced eight families to move.

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In the second bout of rioting a gang of about 30 from the loyalist side of the Limestone Road attacked an RUC patrol. Five petrol bombs were thrown and one man was arrested.

The Ulster Unionist MP for the area, Mr Cecil Walker, and the SDLP candidate in the general election, Mr Alban Maginness, have appealed to people in the area to step up mediation efforts. Mr Maginness warned that the situation could become much worse as the marching season gets under way.

The Alliance Party candidate, Mr Tom Campbell and the Workers Party candidate, Mr Paul Treanor, also appealed for calm.

Meanwhile, seven men are still being questioned in connection with an arms find in south Armagh on Thursday night.

The condition of the police woman, Ms Alice Collins, who was shot by the IRA in Derry last Thursday, was described as "serious but stable". She underwent a six hour operation in Altnagelvin Hospital after being hit in the back by a single shot outside Derry Crown Court.

Meanwhile, the RUC is investigating three arson attacks, all outside Belfast. In Lisburn, a Mormon church was damaged. An Orange Hall in Woodgrange, Downpatrick, Co Down, and a social hall in Banbridge, also in Co Down, were also attacked.