Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Polish family leave after attacks

A Polish family including a four-year-old boy have left their County Tyrone home following a spate of hate crime attacks in the Moygashel area.

Windows in the homes of Polish families were broken and two cars were damaged over the weekend.

Ulster Unionist MLA Tom Elliott said foreign nationals should be left alone.

"That part of south Tyrone has quite a high number of foreign nationals that have moved within the area in the last number of years," he said.

"A lot of those have integrated well into society and they're living and working within the local society.

"All those people should be allowed to live in peace, no matter where they come from."

Bernadette McAliskey, of the South Tyrone Empowerment Programme (Step), which works with migrant workers, said bricks had been thrown through windows in each of the houses.

"On at least some of them a note was attached telling people to vacate their homes and leave the area, and giving them a very limited time to do so," she added.

"It is a very small area and a very close-knit community of good people, and the thing that needs to be done is that the perpetrators need to be identified, appropriately charged, tried and held accountable for their actions."
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