Sectarian attack on Ballymena Church
A Roman Catholic church in the Harryville area of Ballymena has been damaged in what is believed to have been a sectarian attack.
Police said paint was thrown of Our Lady’s on the Larne Road between 11pm on Friday and 2am on Saturday.
Damage was caused to the front door and a window of the building.
A PSNI spokesperson said a sectarian motive is a major line of inquiry.
The church has been targeted many times before and this latest incident comes ahead of parades in the town next week.
DUP MP for the area Ian Paisley Jnr is appealing for no retaliation and calm in the area.
“I think it is pretty obvious what people are trying to do,” he told UTV.
“I just think that people need to step back think about the consequences of their actions.
“If they gave any rational thought to it at all they would know that this sort of thing is foolhardy and wrong, and they should stop it”.
SDLP councillor for Ballymena, Declan O’Loan said he was “saddened” by the attack:
“No place of worship should be subject to an attack of this nature, but unfortunately the church has been attacked many times over the years.
“The level of tension in Ballymena has been much reduced of late, but we all know they are under the surface and manifest themselves in an incident like this.
“There is concern about the main Twelfth parade, which this year is going through the more Catholic part of Ballymena.
“I hope there wouldn’t be any sequence of incidents leading up to Tuesday which might indicate there might be a more serious trouble.”
