Loyalist paramilitaries may have been linked to a vicious assault on a Catholic man in Co Antrim, it emerged tonight.
Ulster Volunteer Force men have been blamed for battering Mr Christopher McGill (24) after a row over a Glasgow Celtic poster flared into sectarian violence.
He had his nose and cheekbone broken before being smashed through a window as the mob rampaged through a house at Thomas Street, Carrickfergus where he was hiding.
The victim's family have fled their homes in terror as the attack threatened to destroy community relations in the town.
PSNI spokeswoman
As they accused the UVF, police confirmed a number of possible motives were being investigated.
A PSNI spokeswoman said: "Possible links between a number of persons involved in the attack and a loyalist paramilitary organisation are being investigated."
Trouble flared when the victim fought with a man who confronted him outside a Carrickfergus off-licence on Saturday night about the Celtic poster on a bedroom wall.
Fearing tensions would rise, his mother Linda took Mr McGill to his friend's house while she hunted in vain for paramilitary chiefs she thought could defuse the situation.
Up to 10 men burst into the property and battered their target with a TV and video recorder, Mrs McGill claimed.
A second man, aged 20, was also assaulted while two women were threatened.
The gang allegedly warned the family they would be burned alive.
Mrs McGill and her children have now moved out to live in a caravan.
She said tonight: "We have handed our notices in (to the Housing Executive).
"They had offered us temporary accommodation but I have advised them it would be totally unsuitable."
PA