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Arsonists strike again in Northern Ireland

BELFAST: Arsonists hit a Protestant "Orange" hall in Northern Ireland overnight, hours after church leaders called for an end to such attacks to avoid inflaming passions on the first anniversary of peace.

Police said the exterior of the hall in Lisburn, 10 miles (13 km) south of Belfast was scorched but no serious damage was caused when arsonists tried to set it ablaze overnight.

It was the latest attack against symbols of both Protestant and Catholic traditions in Northern Ireland as the province counts down to the September 1 anniversary of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) guerrilla ceasefire that brought peace.

The IRA called a halt to its 25-year war against British rule to ease the passage of its political wing, Sinn Fein, into new peace talks but the negotiations are deadlocked over Britain's demands that guerrillas surrender their weapons.

Leaders of the province's four main churches -- Anglican, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian and Methodist -- called for calm on Monday night, saying the arson attacks were "determined to raise community tensions at a sensitive time."

Security minister Sir John Wheeler also condemned the attacks, which have included the fire-bombing of Catholic and Protestant churches, Orange halls and private homes.

He said they endangered a year of peace which was cemented in October last year when Protestant Loyalist gunmen ended their guerrilla war to keep the province British.

"Why are some people putting that at risk by their actions? Northern Ireland disfigured by sectarian attacks can never be a stable society at peace with itself," he said in a statement.

The attacks are thought to reflect decades-old tension between the Protestant majority, which wants to stay British, and the Catholic minority which identifies with the Roman Catholic Irish republic.

The Orange order is the largest Protestant organisation in Northern Ireland and traces its roots to a 17th-century victory by King William of Orange over an invading Catholic monarch.

It is widely seen as the bedrock of support for continued British rule and for Unionist leaders determined that 300-year-old links with Britain will never be broken or replaced by a reunification of the province with Ireland.

Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams has tried in vain to meet the Reverend Martyn Smyth, a Unionist member of parliament and leader of the Orange order to discuss the arson attacks.

But Smyth, whose party will have nothing to do with Sinn Fein until the IRA disarms, wrote back accusing Adams' party of stirring up sectarian tension.-Reuter