Communities come together

A new cross community focus group has been established with the aim of helping alleviate serious attacks and anti-social behaviour in the Irish Street and Top of the Hill area.

A minority group from the Top of The Hill area is believed to have been behind recent attacks on Irish Street, including the bid to burn down an elderly couple's home in Finn Gardens. But the new focus group has said these young people are also engaged in behaviour that causes "havoc" in their own area.

A statement said that for the people living in Top of the Hill, "anti-social behaviour has long been a scourge on the community; most weekends a select group of young people from the age 12 upwards, and who are often under the influence of drugs and alcohol, terrorise their community by carrying out acts of violence".

It added: "During the summer months this anti-social behaviour is more prevalent. However, over the Twelfth of July weekend this took a more sinister twist when those engaged in this behaviour petrol bombed the home of Mr and Mrs Lyndsay of Finn Gardens, and paint bombed a number of homes in Bann Drive, Irish Street estate."

At a public meeting involving the two communities, representatives of Top of the Hill said the attacks on homes were not endorsed by residents but carried out by a small minority who were also responsible for "creating havoc" in their own area.

Following a question and answer session emanating from the initial discussion, a number of common issues were identified - including policing - and it was agreed that something more positive could be achieved if the two communities continued to work together.

The statement said: "Community representatives from both areas went on to publicly state that they are united in their condemnation of the ongoing anti-social behaviour in the Top of the Hill area and of the attacks on the homes in Irish Street.

"The aim of the forum is to set in place more positive relationships on the ground and create communication networks with other community, voluntary and statutory agencies which will help to reduce the problems affecting both communities."