Homeless women and children forced to flee a hostel set alight by teenage thugs on Belfast's peace line could have been killed in the arson attack, Northern Ireland security minister Mr Adam Ingram claimed today.
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As politicians faced demands to try to stop sectarian trouble in the run-up to a tense season of marches, Mr Ingram said he was appalled by the violence.
Thirteen families, many of them in their nightclothes, escaped as flames and smoke swept part of the building at Cupar Street between the Shankill and Falls areas.
Nobody was hurt but firefighters called in to tackle the blaze said there could have been a major tragedy.
Nearly all the women and children were Catholics who moved to Ashmore Street hostel because of domestic difficulties in advance of being rehoused elsewhere.
The hostel had been hit before but last night's attack by up to 20 loyalists shouting sectarian abuse was by far the worst.
The hostel's storeroom was set on fire after one youth was seen loosening a protective grille and throwing a lighted object through the window. It was gutted while corridors and bedrooms on the first floor were smoke-damaged.
Cllr Margaret Walsh of the SDLP, who represents the Lower Falls, said she would be meeting Stormont Social Development Minister Maurice Morrow to urge him to give the hostel more protection.
She said: "I think it's a disgrace because these families that are living in the hostel are the most vulnerable of people. They are there because they are waiting to be rehoused. Unionist politicians will be asked to get guarantees from the loyalists that these attacks are going to stop."
Deputy Lord Mayor of Belfast Mr Frank McCoubrey of the Ulster Democratic Party, political wing of the paramilitary Ulster Defence Association (UDA), called for an immediate end to the attacks.
He said: "This was an absolutely disgraceful attack on a hostel which has provided a service to homeless people from both communities throughout the height of the Troubles."
PA