Police are taking incidents seriously: Commander

Since the start of July there have been 13 attacks on homes flying flags in the Coleraine area. In the latest incident a lamp post with a flag attached to it was cut down at Kyle’s Brae at 11pm last Thursday night.

At the meeting Chief Superintendent Chris Nobel H District Commander assured the victims that police were taking the attacks seriously and that patrols had been stepped up in the Coleraine area. DUP representatives were also present at the meeting.

DUP MLA Adrian McQuillan told the Times: “Just a day after we had this meeting, a lamp post with union flag on it was cut down. This is another sectarian attack this time on public property, but there is a serious safety concern here - the culprits were tampering with mains electricity.”

DUP councillor George Duddy, whose home was attacked last month, described the criminal damage at Kyle’s Brae as ‘sectarian’ and said that the culprits were ‘looking for a reaction from the Unionist community.’

“This lamppost was left across a busy road. It could have resulted in death or very serious injury,” said councillor Duddy. The DUP man noted that the culprits used the ‘sanctity of the church to enable them to carry out this crime’, he added: “We’ve now had four meetings with senior police and we’re still no further forward.”