Victims of racism in Belfast tonight challenged their tormentors to say what fuels their hatred.
As three Nigerian men fled their home in a loyalist district where many of the attacks are centred, police chiefs also faced new pressure to halt the escalating hate campaign.
The men moved out after a firework was found in a back yard at Coolfin Street - within 24 hours of a petrol bomb attack on a nearby Bangladeshi family.
It was the 90th racist attack recorded by police in south Belfast this year.
A brother of one of the men, who insisted they were too terrified to return to their home of two years, could not understand what motivated the thugs.
He said: "We really don't know why. Every time things like this happen it's very very depressing.
"We try to communicate with the community to ask them why, but nobody knows the reason.
"They are looking at us from the perspective that we are refugees, which we are not.
"We are all workers, we work for our living and pay our rents as well as they do."
British army explosives experts were called in to the area as part of a major security alert.
Police confirmed they were investigating a possible racial motive.
Despite senior officers defending their record on attacks against ethnic minorities, campaigners pleaded with the authorities to do more.
Mr David Carlin of the Anti-Racist Network said: "Police and community representatives need to stand shoulder to shoulder with those being attacked."
Earlier, Chief Inspector Nigel Grimshaw denied claims by the organisation that officers were dragging their heels in tackling crime against ethnic minorities after the petrol bomb attack.
PA