A North Belfast community worker due to address the Peace and Reconciliation Forum in Dublin yesterday had to pull out after an upsurge in loyalist violence in her community.
In a letter to the forum, Ms Anne Bill said 11 families had been displaced in the past 24 hours due to threats against their safety. She said there was a "developing crisis" over alleged intelligence gathering by IRA members and a general feeling of mistrust in the area.
In her paper to the forum, Ms Bill said there was a continuing struggle against the intimidation of Protestant, loyalist and unionist residents in North Belfast.
"Many times have their republican neighbours repeatedly warned 'We'll be back tonight to burn you out'." That behaviour was never fully portrayed by the media, she said.
The Alliance Party leader, Mr David Ford, said it appeared that we were moving towards a view that the best we could manage was "some kind of benign apartheid, that we manage two separate political communities". There was a real danger that these divisions could be reinforced, he said.
Mr Gerry Kelly of Sinn Féin said inter-community dialogue was a necessary step to resolving differences. It was difficult to blame groups from within the unionist community for withdrawing from dialogue, when groups such as the DUP, the UUP and now the PUP were refusing to engage in contact with Sinn Féin.
Mr Glenn Jordan of the East Belfast Mission said east Belfast Protestants felt they were "under siege" but their plight was ignored.
Protestants were reluctant to pass interface areas on foot, he said. This was hindering job opportunities and entertainment possibilities, because people had to cross the river to get to the city centre.
"It also heightens a sense that there is a story of a siege on east Belfast Protestants that is not being told here," he said.
