'Mercy' No One Killed in Orange Hall Attack by nationalists
A woman in her 80s was among a group of Orange Order members who escaped injury when their meeting hall was petrol-bombed. 
An Orange Order spokesman said Tuesday night's incident was the latest of a series of attacks on Greencastle Orange Hall on the Whitewell Road in north Belfast.
He said: "There have been paint bombings and graffiti, as well as verbal abuse offered by those from the nationalist and republican tradition.
"There was even, we understand, a slogan painted on a wall saying ' Re- route the Line Dancers', referring to one of the user groups of the hall." 
Police say they are treating the incident as sectarian.
North Belfast MP Nigel Dodds said police who arrived at the scene were also targeted with stones and fireworks.
"This is an odious and appalling attack on ordinary people," said Mr Dodds.
"It was clearly sectarian and another example of the republican agenda of ethnic cleansing of Protestant culture and communities.
"It was a mercy that no one was killed or seriously injured." 
Lodge member Ron Martin said those in the hall at the time were mostly elderly women.
"They were very frightened. There was no damage at all, just the fright more than anything. The security doors stopped it getting into the hall," said Mr Martin.
He said stones had been thrown at the hall on Monday evening when the men's lodge was meeting as well at the time of Tuesday night's attack. 
Police said a number of items were removed from the scene for examination.
Ulster Political Research Group spokesman John Montgomery said the petrol bomb attack was "attempted murder".
"The people who left the building escaped through an entry adjacent to the Orange Hall - the same entry the NIO and the police and the nationalist politicians in that part of Belfast want a gate on."
SDLP councillor Pat Convery condemned the petrol-bombing and said it may have been "a deliberate attempt to raise the political temperature".
"We can't discount the possibility," he said. 
"The real point is that there were people in the hall at the time, and the petrol bombers knew this. Petrol bombs are weapons of murder and throwing them at buildings where there are people should be properly considered as attempted murder."
Part One - Part Two - News Letter Online 6th October 2005
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