Security stepped up after attacks

A primary seven classroom was destroyed in the fire

Thirty police officers have been involved in a security operation in County Antrim aimed at protecting property from sectarian attacks.

It follows arson attacks on two Catholic primary schools in Ballymena, the latest in a spate of incidents.

The security covered 50 Catholic-owned properties, churches, schools and GAA sports grounds.

Vehicle checkpoints were set up in Ballymena, Ahoghill and Portglenone. Mobile patrols covered other locations.

The extra officers had been drafted in for what was termed Operation Striker.

Chief Inspector Stephen Martin said: "We want to demonstrate in a very visible way we are there to support the community in Ballymena, and in particular, the Catholic community.

"We want to let them know that we, the police, are going to do everything we can to support them and prevent them from being victims of crime."

Plans for a helicopter to cover some of the outlying areas had to be abandoned due to bad weather.

However, the chief executive of the Community Relations Council, Duncan Morrow, said the exceptional policing response to the situation in Ballymena was not a long term solution.

Civic society and churches and politicians and everybody else need to do something about this nihilism Denis Bradley Policing Board

"Having to put police onto buildings which are associated with one community is really the last resort," he said.

"It's the kind of thing that happens in the Balkans and it certainly can't go on forever because people start to feel that they can only live in the town with this protection."

The Policing Board, which holds the PSNI to account, is due to hold a meeting in Ballymena later on Thursday, when local people will be speaking to the board about the situation.

The board's vice chairman, Denis Bradley, said that while the policing response was important, it alone could not solve the problem of sectarianism.

"The police have to answer for their operational ability and that's fair enough," he said.

"But civic society and churches and politicians and everybody else need to do something about this nihilism, on the one hand, among youngsters, 14, 15, 16-year-olds, because that's what it is feeding into our old problems of sectarianism.

Petrol bomb

"Plus the adults, the 20 and 30 year olds who are quite sectarian in the sense that they can't live with their neighbours. Police can't solve all of that."

Fred Cobain, an Ulster Unionist member of the Policing Board, said: "I think the police in most circumstances do an extremely good job.

"Society itself has responsibilities to bear."