A strategy for tackling racism must be adopted throughout Northern Ireland society following the rise in recent attacks against ethnic minorities, it was claimed today.
In a joint statement, the Progressive Unionist Party and Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities (NICEM) condemned recent attacks in south Belfast on the Pakistani, Ugandan, Chinese and Filipino communities.
NICEM and the Progressive Unionist Party, which is linked to the loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force, said they were "heartened" by condemnation of recent incidents.
But they called for a more accurate reflection of racial problems in the city, insisting attacks were occurring in both loyalist and nationalist areas.
Although recent incidents in the Village area of south Belfast have been blamed on members of loyalist organisations like the UVF, the statement accused members of the White Nationalist Party of distributing "inflammatory information on the black and ethnic minorities" in the district.
"For the last year the recent White Nationalist Party, an offspring of the BNP in England, has been disseminating inflammatory information on the black and ethnic minorities living in the area such as asylum seekers, refugees or migrant workers, describing them as people who are swamping your area," they said.
"This in turn created a climate of fear among the indigenous people of the area causing them to consider those who were black and a minority ethnic as a serious threat to their well being.
Since the proliferation of this propaganda, vicious and orchestrated attacks have been carried out.
"These vicious attacks inexorably violate the inherent right of human dignity and the very core of fundamental human rights," the statement said.
Progressive Unionist leader Mr David Ervine said the joint statement was "a practical response to an intolerable situation".
The East Belfast Assembly member said: "It arose out of discussions between the council and ourselves over the past week and is an attempt to move away from the blame game.
"We wanted to look more deeply at the circumstances and see how we could build a more constructive response instead of paying lip service.
"The next step will be for us to sit down and work out who we meet to take forward these proposals."
Last week a six foot wooden plank was pushed through a double glazed window of a house in the Village where a Pakistani man and his eight-months pregnant sister-in-law had just moved.
Pipe bombs were also thrown into the homes of black families in the Village district last summer, and last month Chinese and Ugandan homes were attacked.
A local estate agent also reported last week he had been ordered not to rent properties to ethnic minorities.
PA