Nationalists are not surprised by sectarian hatred, reports Dan Keenan from Ballymena.
Sunlight glinted off the brown beer bottle splinters at the impromptu shrine to murdered teenager Michael McIlveen at the grim, anonymous car park.
A steady stream of people came to the spot in the shade of an imposing stone wall where the 15-year-old had been beaten.
It was to here that he had fled from the cinema nearly a mile away after what the PSNI called an "altercation".
They placed bunches of flowers, soft toys, pictures of the Sacred Heart and Rosary beads. But not even the spring sunshine nor the many flowers could lift the depressing gloom that descends on places where terrible, pointless violence has been inflicted on the innocent.
Few spoke. Those who did opted for cliche.
In between the "awfuls" and the "terribles" they shook their heads as they read the tributes left by the bereaved and teenage school friends.
"It'll never end," said one woman as if defeated by the realism of Ballymena's ingrained sectarianism. No one disagreed. The fatalism was palpable.
Teenage handwriting adorned some of the simple posies. Short notes, many of them misspelled or written in chatroom text-speak, paid tribute.
"U R in a better place now," said one. Many others referred to Micky-Bo - r m8 (our mate). Another expressed "pitty" (sic).
A "Protestant grandmother" expressed her sympathies in elegant cursive, while another card spoke of Protestant shame at such a crime.
Graffiti just five metres away shouted a different message. Below a scrawled boy's name was the ominous warning "You're next" and signed by UYM, Ulster Young Militants, which is linked to the outlawed UDA.
Anger echoed silently around the internet mixed with warnings of retribution.
A website message board was laden with threats against a named individual. Web page after web page pledged loathing and revenge written in a language barely understood by anyone over 25 - a crude mixture of rap, vowel-free text words and Glasgow soccer slang.
"Hope u rot in ur cell, u should be shot you dirty hun," said one. "What did he eva do to u?" demanded another. "Every1 irish n decent will b out to kill ur. . . hope u rot in hell . . ."
Nationalist representatives express little surprise at the scale of the hatred after so many decades.
Both unionist parties and the loyal orders have condemned the murder. DUP leader Ian Paisley has phoned the McIlveen family to sympathise with them, to offer what assistance he could and to pray, the dead teenager's uncle said. "I was very pleased he had phoned," he added.
However, Michael McIlveen's murder was no shock and DUP claims of dissociation from sectarianism are questionable, say nationalist representatives.
Sinn Féin Assembly member Philip McGuigan accused local unionists of "speaking out the side of their mouths" in condemnation. Declan O'Loan, one of two SDLP members on the DUP-dominated council, said his fellow councillors were "in denial" about the persistence of anti-Catholic sectarianism and their contribution towards it.
Sectarianism is no one-way street they admit, but "the dominant story down the years was attacks on Catholic churches, homes and schools", said Mr O'Loan.
"The reality for Catholic youths in this town is that they are under constant fear of attack from loyalist gangs. Over 90 per cent of attacks are directed against the Catholic/nationalist population," said Mr McGuigan.
Both accuse the DUP of a failure of leadership.
"This is a town controlled by the DUP, and until such times as the DUP take their responsibility seriously and engage with the rest of us who have a political mandate and engage with the rest of the community then [ reconciliation] will fail. They need to show that Catholics, nationalists, republicans are all equal citizens."
Mr O'Loan agrees. "They can and need to do a lot more. It's when you start asking what do people think led to this that the differences emerge.
"Dominant political control by the DUP, their very assertive style in council, the atmosphere that 'we are the winners now and we're going to show it and you're going to know about it' - sends out a message to the Catholic community."