Nurses from ethnic minority groups, particularly Filipinos, were subjected to racial abuse and attacks again at the weekend in Belfast, according to the trade union Unison.
Following recent racist attacks in the loyalist Village area of south Belfast Unison official, Ms Pamela Dooley, said nurses came under both physical and verbal abuse in the south of the city at the weekend.
Moreover, she met with 25 nurses working at Belfast City Hospital last Thursday, most of whom were Filipinos, "and every nurse in the room had been attacked at one time or another", she said. "They have been verbally and physically attacked, been forced out of their houses, chased down roads. The nurses told me they are living in terrible fear," she added.
"Racism cannot be permitted to go unchallenged in this society. The situation described by our members is frightening and on the increase," said Ms Dooley.
"The workers have come here at the request of the UK government to provide much needed health care to our citizens. In response thugs, racists and bigots are intent on driving them out and doing them harm," she added.
Ms Dooley said that police and Belfast City Hospital must work with Unison to protect the nurses and to all ethnic groups under threat. "This is a profoundly racist society. The sooner we face that fact and deal with it the sooner we will be free from it," she added.
