Police in the North were accused today of failing ethnic minorities following a series of racist attacks in loyalist areas of south Belfast.
After it emerged a Belfast estate agent was ordered not to rent homes to members of the Chinese or black community, Alliance councillor Mrs Geraldine Rice warned the police that they were losing the confidence of victims of racial violence in the city.
Despite Progressive Unionist Party leader Mr David Ervine's denial that attacks were being sanctioned by loyalist paramilitaries, Mrs Rice said: "It is no secret that the Ulster Volunteer Force has been involved in extortion rackets focusing on Chinese-owned businesses in south Belfast and that the Ulster Defence Association has been infiltrated by far-right groups like Combat 18 in the Village area.
"Together these groups have engaged in the abuse and ethnic cleansing of minorities in south Belfast."
"While the numbers of families forced from their homes in the Village and Donegall Road areas is now in double figures, there has been just one arrest and not a single conviction," she said.
"The police are failing ethnic minorities and will lose their conference until and unless there is a concerted effort to bring the hate-filled racists behind these attacks to justice."
Mrs Rice, who is a member of Castlereagh District Policing Partnership, said that, although the British Government had promised to introduce hate crimes legislation, it would not make any difference until those responsible for racial violence were caught.
Earlier today, estate agent Mr William Faulkner said he had been visited by people urging him not to let out property to Chinese or black families.
On Wednesday night, an eight-and-a-half months pregnant Pakistani woman and her brother-in-law were left badly shaken when their home was attacked on the Donegall Road.
Several families have been attacked in the Donegall Road and Village areas of south Belfast in recent weeks, with members of the Chinese and Ugandan communities among those singled out.