Arson attacks on churches growing

A Catholic church in County Antrim targeted by arsonists is the most recent example of an alarming upsurge in attacks on churches in Northern Ireland.

The fire at St Peter's the Rock in Stoneyford, Lisburn was started at about midnight on Wednesday August 15 but suffered only minor damage to pews and carpets in the church.

Seamus Armstrong, who is a member of the parish committee, said he believed those who started the fire used an extinguisher filled with petrol.

Speaking on BBC Radio Ulster on Thursday, Mr Armstrong said: "I was driving down into the chapel and I noticed a fire extinguisher sitting outside the window and a fire inside the window. I lifted the extinguisher and I hit the handle of the extinguisher and it was like a flame thrower."

Meanwhile, six weeks ago, a fire which police say was started deliberately, completely destroyed a Catholic church on the outskirts of Belfast. Police say the fire that destroyed St Bernard’s Church on the Antrim Road on June 12, which has subsequently been demolished, was malicious.

The church was the third to suffer a malicious fire during a two-week period in June. Whitehouse Presbyterian Church on the Shore Road was saved from total devastation on the 23 June because water tanks in the roof burst and extinguished the fire. St Mary's on the Hill church in Glengormley 26 June was also targeted in an arson attack but escaped major damage.

Speaking at the time, Secretary of State John Reid condemned the attacks: "Sectarianism in any form is ugly but to attack churches which play such a central role in the lives of so many families in the local community is particularly disgusting.” (AMcE)