One of the saddest stories to appear in the local press during
the past month was the one describing how a distraught Protestant
mother of four was finally forced to quit her beloved North
Belfast home, following months of sectarian attacks on her
family and home in the White City estate.
The papers related how Mary Foster and her husband Ian had
to take the heartbreak decision after 18 years of living in
the Whitewell area.
The Fosters enjoyed excellent relations with their neighbours
and many were in tears on the day they packed their furniture
and drove out for the last time. Children carried placards
saying: “Sorry you are leaving us” and similar
sentiments.
But the Fosters lived on the front line of the small Protestant
estate which has been under almost nightly attack from the
nationalist areas which surround it. May Foster told journalists,
“All I want is a normal life but, because I am a Protestant,
I am targeted with petrol bombs, coffee jar bombs, fireworks
and bricks - and the police won’t cross the peace-line
to stop it. The children are living in fear of attack every
night and we can’t go on like this”.
Mrs. Foster, who claimed a recent illness she suffered was
a result of stress, from constant attacks on her home, slammed
any proposals to remove the high wire fencing from White City
estate and other areas of Belfast City of Culture proposals
as “impossible”.
“I would challenge anyone who wants to remove the peace
walls to come and lie in my house for a week”, she said.
“They would soon change their mind”.
Mrs. Foster said the decision to leave Whitewell was a hard
one, as they had many friends, and her husband was born there”.
One of the most alarming aspects of the decision of the Fosters
to leave is the fact that they feel the police, as well as
the Housing Executive and Northern Ireland Office officials
are not doing enough to help Protestant families living in
the area.
“Basically, if all the Protestants cleared out of the
area, it would be a lot less hassle for the police and other
services,” she said.
Mrs. Foster pointed to the lack of amenities and shops for
the Protestant families, and also to slogans in nationalist
areas such as “Houses soon available in White City”.
A similar argument was heard in the Park Road-King Street
area of Portadown when the Woodside estate at the bottom of
Garvaghy Road was being ethnically cleansed of Protestants.
The allegation then, as now in White City, is that the police
would find it easier to cope if the area was completely clear
of Protestants. That’s why unionist representatives
claim the police do not go behind security walls to catch
the people carrying out the attacks on Protestant areas.
Whether this allegation is true or not, and it’s certainly
one the police would deny, the fact is that the drip-drip
of Protestant families from vulnerable areas is creating a
situation where more ghettos will be created, and that’s
hardly a scenario which will benefit the community as a whole.
Driving along Whitewell Road it is difficult to comprehend
the degree of fear and apprehension in the area, as the houses
are modern and well-kept, and have all the appearance of an
attractive district.
But beneath the veneer of outward normality there is a lot
of fear and apprehension and it certainly doesn’t bear
out the argument of those who say the Belfast Agreement and
the radical changes in policing have brought about an improved
situation - quite the contrary in fact.
Whitewell’s Orange Hall, like those in so many other
vulnerable parts of Northern Ireland, has born the brunt of
republican and nationalist attacks.
The movement of Protestant families from Whitewell, as in
Limestone Road and other areas, puts those who remain under
greater threat and it creates more bitterness and division.
Sadly, that is a price republicans seem happy for the community
to pay if it increases their territorial expansion in north
and west Belfast.
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