The following list of sectarian and other hate-driven incidents and attacks is from 1 through 31 May 2002. The criteria we use for inclusion is based on the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) criteria; if a person/organisation feels that the motivation for an attack against them was sectarian (or racist or homophobic), then it should be counted as such. We rely on a number of sources for our information, but this is by no means comprehensive. If you find incidents that have been left off the list please contact us. A full dossier of sectarian and other hate attacks from January 1999 until April 2002 is available on our website at <http://www.serve.com/pfc>www.serve.com/pfc.

May 1, Wednesday. The UDA was blamed for pipe bomb attacks on a pub and on a senior citizen's care home in Randalstown, Co. Antrim. Neither device exploded. (IN, CW)

May 3, Friday. In Derry, nationalist youths pelted Protestant homes in the Fountain estate with petrol bombs, stones and paint. Some of those involved were as young as six years old. The attacks were condemned by Sinn Féin. (DJ, LS, CW)

May 4, Saturday. Rioting broke out between loyalists and nationalists on the Limestone Road and in Duncairn in north Belfast when, according to nationalists, a group of 12 loyalists attacked Catholic homes in North Queen Street with iron bars. Loyalists said that the trouble came from nationalists who had defaced a floral tribute to Glen Branagh, the teenage member of the UDA's youth wing, the UYM, who died throwing a blast bomb this time last year. During the rioting loyalists threw blast bombs at British Army vehicles. There was no one in the vehicles at the time. During rioting on the Crumlin Road there were several reports of shots being fired at the RUC/PSNI by loyalists in the Denmark Street area. In Hughenden Gardens in the Cavehill area, a busload of loyalists wearing Rangers FC tops attacked Catholic homes. There was also rioting in Ardoyne, and Whitewell. According to the RUC/PSNI up to 800 people were involved in the rioting. 40 plastic bullets were fired and two loyalists were injured by gunfire in the North Queen's Street area. According to official sources, twenty eight RUC/PSNI officers were injured, with two seriously injured. The same sources said that eight civilians were injured; local sources put the figure much higher. Locals also accused the RUC/PSNI of exacerbating the violence by firing plastic bullets and by driving at people on footpaths. (Mi, CW, IN, NBN, BT)

Police in Scotland arrested six men, thought to be members of the UVF, in connection with the movement of guns and explosives, including 5lbs of the commercial explosive Semtex, to the north of Ireland. (IN, BT, NL)

Christopher Butler, a 14-year-old Protestant from north Belfast and his 15-year-old cousin Jennifer Courtney were chased into a shop in central Belfast by a gang of nationalists who identified their religious affiliation by the school uniforms they were wearing. It is understood that two customers in the shop, both from nationalist areas, came to the assistance of the two schoolchildren. (IN)

There was sectarian rioting at Derry's Fountain Estate/Bishop Street interface. (IN, DN, LS)

It was reported that loyalists in Larne attacked a group of Catholics near a pub in the town. (IN)

In Ballymena two men were treated in hospital after being attacked by loyalists. (IN, CW)

Loyalists were blamed for throwing acid into the face of a 25-year-old Catholic man on Clifton Street in north Belfast. The man was taken to hospital to be treated for burns. (IN, NBN)

In east Belfast loyalists, said by nationalist sources to be using a house in Thistle Court as a drinking den, attacked houses in Madrid Street in the Short Strand with bottles and stones. Rioting ensued when nationalist youths confronted them. According to David Ervine of the PUP it was nationalists who started the rioting during which two teenage Protestant girls were injured. Sinn Féin's Joe O'Donnell called on all sides to hold back and on community leaders to meet to find a solution. (SBN, CW)

May 5, Sunday. In the Limestone Road area in north Belfast, loyalists threw a blast bomb that exploded close to where some Catholic children were playing. The RUC/PSNI said they came under attack from loyalists while responding to reports of the explosion. (CW, IN)

May 6, Monday. In Belfast Frederick Millar (40) and Wilson Whiteley (38) were charged with possessing guns and ammunition found during a police raid on a house in the loyalist Donegall Road area. (IN, BBC)

Three people were hospitalised with stab wounds after a sectarian brawl at an athletics club in Newtownabbey, north of Belfast. A fourth man suffered a fractured skull. It is understood that the crowd attempted to attack the wounded in the ambulance and threatened the ambulance crew at knifepoint. (IN, BBC)

In north Belfast, loyalists, thought to be the UDA, attacked five Catholic homes in Newington Street with ball-bearings and bolts. In a separate incident loyalists attempted to drag a Catholic man from his car in North Queen Street. The UDA were also blamed for attacks on houses in Serpentine Gardens, also in north Belfast. An 11-year-old girl walking home from the York Gate Centre was knocked over by a supermarket trolley when an RUC/PSNI landrover hit it at high speed. She suffered injuries to her legs, face and head. She refuted the RUC/PSNI version of events, who claimed that the trolley had been bounced off the vehicle by nationalist rioters. Video footage of the incident showed RUC/PSNI vehicles charging at nationalists. (IN, NBN)

In south Belfast, loyalists attacked Catholic homes in the Markets area. (CW)

May 7, Tuesday. The Derry Journal reported that relatives of the 14 civil rights marchers murdered by the British Army on Bloody Sunday 1972 risk attack by members of the neo-nazi British National Party and its offshoot Combat 18 when travelling to London when the proceedings of the new inquiry are moved there. The paper also reported that there was a risk from disgruntled former members of the Parachute Regiment, the regiment that carried out the killings. It was members of the Parachute Regiment who had filed for the Inquiry proceedings to be transferred to London citing possible republican threats in spite of RUC assurances that reports of threats to soldiers were groundless. British ultra-nationalist groups picketed the Widgery Inquiry in Coleraine in 1972 and have a history of physically attacking Bloody Sunday commemoration marches in London throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the latest attack being in 1999. At the Bloody Sunday commemoration in Derry this year a banner was hung from the city walls bearing the slogan "Paras 14, Paddys 0". The banner was hung at the same time as fascist graffiti was daubed on walls at the edge of the mainly Protestant Fountain estate. Anti-fascist watchdogs and human rights groups have long been alarmed at the extent of overlap in membership between loyalist paramilitaries and British far-right groups and at their infiltration into the armed forces. (See May 9, below)(PFC, CW, DJ)

There was more rioting in north Belfast with petrol bombs being thrown at Catholic homes in Hesketh Road in Ardoyne. Petrol bombs were also thrown at Catholic homes in Whitewell Road and Serpentine Road, also in north Belfast. (IN, CW, NBN)

On the eve of the fifth anniversary of the death of Robert Hamill, who died from injuries sustained on April 27 1997 when a loyalist mob in Portadown assaulted a party of Catholics returning home from a night out in full view of armed RUC officers, James and Andrea McKee pleaded guilty at Craigavon Crown Court to perverting the course of justice. The charges arose out of a conspiracy, involving an RUC reservist, to destroy evidence. The two were given sentences of six months and six months suspended, respectively. Welcoming the move as a first step, Diane Hamill, sister of Robert vowed to "campaign until the full truth is uncovered, no matter how long it will take". (IN, BBC)

May 8, Wednesday. The Olayisade family, a Nigerian family living in the Village area in south Belfast, have fled their home after repeated racist attacks. There are increasing reports of incidences of racism, including a report recently of racist graffiti on the side of a Chinese restaurant in Carryduff. (SBN, IN)

Loyalist leaders Davy Mahood, Frank McCoubrey and Tommy Kirkham warned the RUC/PSNI in Belfast that the City would explode if they did not do more to "stabilise the situation". They called for troops to be deployed. (NBN)

The trial of Alison McKeown (32) got underway at Belfast Crown Court. Ms. McKeown - who has pleaded not guilty - has been accused of the murder of 16-year-old Protestant youth, Thomas McDonald. She allegedly drove her car into him in the White City area of Newtownabbey. The incident occurred in September of last year at a sectarian flash-point on the outskirts to Belfast. (IN)

May 9, Thursday. The UVF's political wing, the PUP, denied that the loyalist paramilitary organisation's ceasefire was under threat, adding that recent rearming was standard. (IN, NBN)

North Belfast Sinn Féin MLA, Gerry Kelly called for the removal of Palestinian flags from areas close to interfaces. The call came after requests from Palestinian nationals living in Belfast who fear the consequences of the solidarity being shown to Palestinians becoming sectarianised; in recent weeks loyalists have erected Israeli flags in interface areas. (NBN, CW)

The South Belfast News reported that Nick Griffin of the fascist British National Party (BNP) was to hold a meeting with its loyalist supporters in south Belfast in June. The BNP has signalled its intention to stand a candidate for the Stormont assembly in south Belfast next year. British fascist groups are cultivating their links with Ulster loyalism and have shown a particular interest in provoking rioting in interface areas as a tactic for garnering support. (See Sectarian Attacks May 7, February 22), (SBN, PFC, CW)

May 10, Friday. Loyalist residents in north Belfast warned that they might pull out of a consultation process aimed at easing tensions in the area. These proposed talks were regarding the Holy Cross dispute and the on-going violence in north Belfast. (IN, NBN, CW)

May 11, Saturday. In the Short Strand in east Belfast loyalists from the Thistle Court/Madrid Street area attacked Catholic homes in Madrid Street. (IN, SBN, CW)

Windows were smashed in Catholic and Protestant homes "in a hail of bricks, bottles and bolts fired from the alleyways that connect Tigers Bay to Duncairn Gardens." Residents from Duncairn Gardens are calling for security fences to be put up at the alleyway entrances. (NBN, CW) 

May 12, Sunday. Loyalists pipe bombed Catholic homes in the Madrid Street area of the Short Strand, east Belfast in the early hours of the morning. Masked men then emerged and attacked more Catholic homes The RUC/PSNI were deployed and during the subsequent rioting are alleged to have assaulted Short Strand resident Seán Paul Devenney, who was trying to calm the situation. He suffered two skull fractures and brain damage as a result of his. Shots were fired and up to 20 petrol bombs were thrown during the incident. Later on, loyalists attacked pensioners' houses on Strand Walk with blast bombs. The stoning of Catholic homes in Madrid Street carried on throughout the day intensifying at around 6.30pm until at 8.00pm there was a concerted and sustained attack on Catholic houses in Madrid Street, Beechfield Street and Bryson Street by a group of loyalist youths firing ball bearings, marbles, golf balls and stones from the roof of Beechfield Street primary school. Residents complained that the PSNI/RUC looked-on without intervening as these attacks, involving up to 100 loyalists, took place. (CW, SBN, IN)

May 13, Monday. In the Short Strand in east Belfast loyalists attacked Catholic homes in Madrid Street, Edgar Street, Bryson Street and Beechfield Street with ball bearings, stones, marbles and fireworks. The attacks carried on from early in the evening until 4.30 am the following day. (CW, SBN)

May 14, Tuesday. During the evening loyalists gathered in Thistle Court and threw missiles at Catholic residents in Madrid Street, in the Short Strand in east Belfast, from behind security force vehicles. (IN, CW)

May 15, Wednesday. The high-profile 'leader' of the UFF/UDA in the lower Shankill, Johnny Adair, was released from prison after having had his licence revoked for 18 months. John White, former UDA killer and spokesperson for its now defunct political wing, the UDP said ""the [loyalists] saw it as unfair and unjust because of the double standards. Leading republicans released under the Good Friday Agreement were involved in a pogrom against Protestants. " He and Adair insisted that Adair was no threat to Catholics. (IN, BBC)

Thomas Potts, a 33 year old "community worker" who was arrested for riotous behaviour in the Westland Road/Cavehill Road area on May 4, was released on £500 bail by Belfast Magistrate Court after the RUC/PSNI accepted the claim that Potts was seen by the local RUC/PSNI as a "useful asset" in quelling riot situations. It also accepted that he not have a curfew imposed on him for the because of his "usefulness". (IN)

In Derry loyalists were blamed for paintbomb attacks on Catholic homes close to the interface with the Fountain. (IN, DJ)

In the Short Strand in east Belfast loyalists erected flags along the interface across which they later threw stones, bricks, fireworks and blast bombs. One of the houses hit by a blast bomb caught fire. (PFC, CW)

Loyalist paramilitaries were blamed for attacking Catholic homes in Abbey Glen, north of Belfast. No one was injured. (IN, CW)

Three loyalist pipe bombs were found opposite St. Gerard's Church (near the junction of Serpentine and Antrim roads) in north Belfast. The bombs were primed and ready for use. They were also described as more sophisticated than the usual loyalist pipe bombs. The find disrupted the annual Solemn Novena at the Church. Local politicians expressed concerns that religious services were now being targeted. (NBN)

May 16, Thursday. In east Belfast, Catholic residents of the Short Strand were attacked in their homes with fireworks, bottles, bricks and marbles. (CW, PFC)

May 17, Friday. Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Dublin's Lord Mayor Michael Mulcahy joined relatives and survivors of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings for a wreath laying ceremony at the Talbot Street memorial to those killed that day. The day marked the 28th anniversary of the attacks that left 33 people dead. It is widely believed that elements within the security forces assisted the loyalists who carried out this attack. It is currently the subject of a judicial inquiry. (IN, IT, PFC)

Police informed a Sinn Féin activist from Glengormley that the loyalist Red Hand Defenders had phoned the BBC to say that they had aborted an attempt to assassinate her. The woman has lived in the area for 17 years and has "never had any bother until [she] stood for Sinn Féin." This was the third threat she has received from loyalist paramilitaries. (IN)

May 18, Saturday. The North Belfast News reported that houses on Serpentine Gardens in north Belfast are to be fitted with security doors and windows under the governments Protection of Private Property at Interfaces (POPPI) scheme. The move was broadly welcomed by political and community leaders in the area. However, many believe the scheme should be extended to the Whitewell Road area. This development is the result of months of campaigning by residents in vulnerable areas (NBN, CW, PFC)

There has been an increase in racist attacks on Belfast's Chinese community. South Belfast has seen a spate of racist attacks and racist graffiti (some of which reads "C18" - an abbreviation for the neo-nazi group Combat 18) daubed on the front of Chinese takeaways. (SBN)

The Andersonstown News revealed that Belfast City Council's own legal team has criticised the Council for its handling of a sectarian harassment case. The Council has been forced to pay compensation of £6,908 to a Catholic member of its cleaning staff. The legal bill for the claim is expected to run to approximately £25,000 of ratepayer's money. A tribunal had determined that the man in question had been subjected to over 4 years of sectarian harassment and that this "caused him stress and impacted on his family life." (AN)

May 19, Sunday. In east Belfast, Short Strand residents were again attacked in their homes with bottles, stones and bricks. (CW, PFC)

May 20, Monday. In east Belfast Short Strand residents were once more attacked in their homes with bottles, stones and bricks. Loyalists also threw a firework at workmen erecting the security fence across the interface. (CW)

May 21, Tuesday. Attacks on Catholic residents of the Short Strand in east Belfast continued. According to local sources the RUC/PSNI, positioned on both sides of the fence, did not intervene. (CW)

Senior Sinn Féin representatives toured the Short Strand and met with residents who had come under attack by loyalists in recent days. North Belfast assembly member Gerry Kelly noted that the problems in the area were "like a replay" of the situation in north Belfast. "The only difference is that this seems to be the UVF involved here, which is a sinister development," he said. (IN)

John Samuel Blair (40) of Glassmillan Grove, Greenisland, was sentenced to one year in prison and 18 months on probation for setting fire to the sacristy at St. Colman's Church in Greenisland. The arson attack occurred in June of 2000. Police had no leads and no suspects until Mr. Blair walked into a police station and confessed. (IN)

May 22, Wednesday. In east Belfast, loyalist youths attacked homes in Madrid Street and Bryson Street in the Short Strand with bricks and golf balls. (CW)

Residents of the Short Strand, including Sinn Féin councillor Joe O'Donnell, members of the Short Strand Housing Association and local community workers, met with the British and Irish governments. Discussions focused on raising the security wall and accessibility to security gates on Madrid Street. (IN, CW)

May 23, Thursday. In east Belfast, homes in the Short Strand were attacked by loyalists with bottles, stones, slates, paintbombs, marbles and bricks across the new security gate. (CW)

May 24, Friday. A Belfast man appeared in court for stabbing a Catholic man in a sectarian attack on July 28th of last year. John Robert Denham (28) was sentenced to seven years in prison. He had pleaded guilty to charges of wounding with intent and possessing an offensive weapon. (IN)

May 25, Saturday. There was "relatively minor" trouble following a junior Orange Lodge march in Portadown on Saturday evening. According to police, a total of 8 petrol bombs were thrown at officers and two baton rounds were fired in response; one arrest was made. The parade passes along the lower end of the mainly Catholic Garvaghy Road. (IN)

May 26, Sunday. A blast bomb was hurled into a south Belfast home just after 2.30am on Sunday morning. A retired couple and d their 5-year-old grandson were in the home at the time but escaped injury. They live in the loyalist Village area of Belfast. (IN)

Loyalists in Glengormley held a small protest outside Carnmoney Cemetery as Catholics held an annual Cemetery Sunday service. The ceremony first sparked trouble last year when Independent councillor Tommy Kirkham and DUP councillor Paul Girvan objected to the service as the cemetery contains both Protestant and Catholic graves. Last years ceremony was also marred by bomb threats. (IN)

Loyalist youths were blamed for throwing a blast bomb into the back garden of an elderly woman living on Newington Avenue in north Belfast. The blast bomb landed beside an oil tank and exploded, but the oil tank did not ignite. (IN, NBN)

May 27, Monday. The Chinese Welfare Association - a support organisation for the Chinese community in the north of Ireland - condemned a knife attack on a 30-year-old Chinese man. The attack, which occurred in the man's Antrim home, is thought to have been a racially motivated attack. (IN)

Police warned Catholic taxi drivers in Lurgan, Co. Armagh, that they could be in danger from loyalist blast-bomb attacks. (IN)

An Alliance Party councillor from Castlereagh had a brick thrown through her Lenaghan Park home. The councillor, Ms. Sara Duncan, blamed the attack on loyalists angry about her role in the removal of a loyalist paramilitary mural from public property near her home. (SBN)

May 28, Tuesday. A suspect device forced the evacuation of SDLP MLA Carmel Hanna's south Belfast constituency office. Army Technical Officers later declared the device a hoax. (SBN)

May 31, Friday. In east Belfast Short Strand residents were attacked in their homes with slates, stones, and bricks. Loyalists erecting flags on the Newtownards Road, using a hydraulic lift, stoned children - two 6-year-olds, a 5-year-old and a 2-year old - in St Matthews Court. A number of young nationalists retaliated. This precipitated a sustained and ferocious attack on Strand Walk, St Matthews Court, Vulcan Court, Vulcan Gardens and Vulcan Street from loyalists who had gathered on the Newtownards Road. During the riot, loyalists threw two blast bombs, several petrol bombs, stones, bricks, bolts, ball bearings and golf balls across the 'security' fencing. A number of gunshots were fired into Strand Walk. (CW, PFC, SBN)

AN: Andersonstown News

BT: Belfast Telegraph

BBC: BBC radio and television news, BBC online, Radio Foyle

CW: Local community workers

DJ: Derry Journal

DN Derry News

IN: Irish News

IT: Irish Times

ITN: Independent Television News

LS: Londonderry Sentinel

NBN: North Belfast News

NL: Newsletter

OB: Observer

PFC: Pat Finucane Centre

RM: RM Distribution

RUC/PSNI: Police Service of Northern Ireland (RUC) press office.

SBP: Sunday Business Post

SBN: South Belfast News

SI: Sunday Independent

ST: Sunday Tribune

UTV: Ulster Television