Intolerance and intimidation are not confined to one side
of the community in Northern Ireland, but many Protestants
are convinced that when their people are under pressure their
plight does not get the same media coverage as is the case
when Roman Catholics are the victims.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of this argument, it is certainly
indefensible for anyone to be involved in this sort of behaviour,
and Protestants should not take part in any attacks on their
neighbours.
As far as bigoted nationalists and republicans are concerned,
the calls by decent people in the Roman Catholic areas would
seem to fall on deaf ears, considering the escalation of this
type of behaviour in the past month.
Throughout the Province there have been reports of attacks
on Protestants, especially those living in interface areas,
or in places where they are the minority community.
Londonderry is the most disturbing evidence of this, and
in the past month there have been petrol bomb attacks on the
small Fountain estate area, the last remaining Protestant
area on the west bank or city side of Londonderry.
The people of the Fountain only want to go about their daily
business in a quiet and unobtrusive manner, and to live in
peace with the nationalist majority on the city side. But
that has not prevented nightly attacks with petrol bombs being
hurled over the fencing at Bishop Street.
Constant appeals by Protestant and Unionist leaders have
failed to bring an end to the situation and the distinct impression
has grown that republicans will not be happy until the last
Protestants have been forced out of the city side.
Even in the city which has seen 20,000 Protestants move out
in the past 30 years that would be an alarming state of affairs.
The message would certainly go out to Protestants throughout
Northern Ireland that they are not wanted at all in their
own country and that if the situation ever arose where they
constituted a minority, then their fate could be the same
as that of their co-religionists in Londonderry.
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