A 105-year-old woman was recovering in a residential home today after her home was attacked by loyalists in north Belfast.
The elderly woman, who is bedridden, was sleeping in a downstairs room in Cliftondene Gardens in the Oldpark area of the city last night when four bricks were thrown through her window.
The pensioner, who had lived in the house for 28 years, had been looked after by her daughters.
Her grandson said she had been seriously shaken by the attack. She had been in a downstairs room, converted into a bedroom, when the bricks smashed through the window showering her with debris, he said.
The woman was taken away by ambulance to be cared for in a residential home.
The Lord Mayor of Belfast Martin Morgan said the attack was "despicable and disgraceful". He said: "My message to the thugs responsible for it is clear: there is no place for sectarianism in the new Belfast we are trying to build.
"The people of Belfast have suffered enough at the hands of thugs and paramilitaries - it is time for this suffering to end. My thoughts and prayers go out to the elderly victim. My only hope is that she can make a full and speedy recovery."
Earlier, paint bombs were hurled through windows of two houses in neighbouring Cliftondene Crescent and Cliftondene Gardens.
The area was declared calm two hours after police moved in to stop the trouble.
Sinn Féin accused loyalists of being responsible for what they said was the latest in a series of attacks against the nationalist population in the generally mixed area.
Elsewhere, three petrol bombs were thrown at houses in Clifton Park Avenue in the Cliftonville area of north Belfast late last night. Slight damage was caused to a window frame of one house while a wheelie bin was damaged in a second house.
The remains of a third petrol bomb were discovered close to a footpath outside another house. The devices have been taken away for further examination.