Meeting follows weekend violence

Masked men attacked Louise McKay in her home

A pastor is to hold talks with fellow clergymen in response to weekend violence in Belfast.

Pastor Jack McKee is to meet church representatives on Tuesday after taxi drivers had their cars burnt out.

In another incident, a mother-of-three was attacked by a gang in a house on the Shankill Road.

It is thought the incidents are linked to a feud between the Loyalist Volunteer Force and the rival Ulster Volunteer Force in Belfast.

The police have confirmed that paramilitaries were behind a number of attacks on taxis - and that they will be putting more patrols on the streets of north Belfast.

Pastor Jack McKee said: "The concern is that the next step up from this is someone getting a bullet in the back of the head.

"People are genuinely sickened and saddened by it."

A number of taxis were burnt out at the weekend. The drivers were working for a taxi company part-owned by prominent loyalist Jackie Mahood.

He has told the BBC the attacks were part of an orchestrated campaign to destroy his business.

Taxi driver Colin Houston said: "What people keep saying to me is that this was to do with a paramilitary feud.

A car belonging to a taxi driver was burnt out

"What I want to say to the people who did this is: 'I am in no paramilitaries.'

"I'm a born again Christian. As far as I'm concerned, my car was done because I'm a soft target."

Meanwhile, two women were attacked and covered in paint after masked men broke into their west Belfast home at about 1850 GMT on Sunday.

Three hooded men smashed the front windows at a house in Hopewell Crescent in the Shankill area.

They threw a jar of black paint over the women. They then entered the house and threatened them.

One of the women, Louise McKay, said she thought she had been blinded with tar. In fact, the gang covered her with black paint.

"I heard the smash of glass and I shouted: 'Get down'. I thought they were shooting in my windows.

Over the coming days we will be increasing police patrols in the area in a bid to prevent further incidents Mike Little PSNI

"The next thing, three or four fellas came in. They had hoods over their heads. They threw paint into my face. They started smashing about and throwing paint everywhere."

Her four-year-old twin boys and teenage son were upstairs when the gang burst in.

Ms McKay said she did not know why she had been targeted and why her sons had been put at risk.

She said that before they left, the men shouted that she had 12 hours to get out of her house.

'Organised criminality'

She has blamed the Ulster Volunteer Force for the attack. The Progressive Unionist Party, which has links to the UVF, has denied this.

The family is moving out of their home.

Police said that the attackers fled in the direction of the Shankill estate.

They are trying to establish a motive for the attack.

Chief Superintendent Mike Little said police would meet local representatives to try to prevent more trouble.

"We can confirm organised criminality with paramilitary links is behind the co-ordinated incidents involving taxi cabs," he said.

"Over the coming days we will be increasing police patrols in the area in a bid to prevent further incidents."