Families flee after 'intimidation'

One family takes down their Union Flag before moving out

Ten families have moved out of their north Belfast homes after claiming to have been intimidated by republicans.

The Protestant families left their homes in the Torrens estate, near the Oldpark Road and Cliftonville Road on Thursday.

They said they had been subjected to a campaign of intimidation over recent years, and earlier this year applied to the Northern Ireland Housing Executive to be re-housed.

It is understood a number of other Protestant families have already moved out of the area during the last two months.

Elizabeth Ferguson, who has lived on the estate for 38 years, says three generations of her family were moving out.

"We are getting forced out of our homes," she said.

There is no campaign, organised or otherwise, against the Protestant community that lives in Torrens Eoin O'Broin Sinn Fein councillor

"I used to take my kids to school and get spat on and called all the lovely names under the sun.

"Three weeks ago they wrote IRA on my living room window and front door.

"I don't want to go but I don't have any other option. They are getting their own way and they are forcing us out.

"My grandmother is 91 years of age and she is also being forced out."

Sinn Fein councillor Eoin O'Broin said he strongly disputed the version of events.

"There is no campaign, organised or otherwise, against the Protestant community that lives in Torrens," he said.

"It is an interface community and it has suffered from a high level of interface violence over the last number of years like many of the interfaces in north Belfast.

"While these families have taken the decision to move out of the estate, it is not because of either a campaign of republican intimidation or ongoing sectarian violence."

Elizabeth Ferguson: "No option but to move out"

However, North Belfast MP Nigel Dodds of the Democratic Unionist Party described the intimidation as "ethnic cleansing".

He said: "This is the most tragic story to emerge from the entire Troubles, in terms of the displacement of a community.

"This isolated Protestant community has been systematically targeted by republicans over many years.

"The people living there simply can't take any more."

SDLP councillor Martin Morgan said he was deeply saddened by the situation.

"The Torrens estate is like a case study in interface problems," he said.

"It is a fact that the people there have been pushed back and forth by paramilitaries on both sides.

"The SDLP has condemned and will continue to condemn all such incidents, no matter who the perpetrators are or what spurious justification they might claim."

A PSNI statement said police were aware of ongoing incidents of youths causing annoyance and criminal damage in the area.

"Additional patrols have been deployed and the police have been speaking to community representatives," it said.