THE sectarian attack on Catholic homes in Annalee Street on Wednesday evening is a case of history repeating itself for one Belfast man. As Tony Neeson watched news reports of shocked and frightened families standing outside their homes in the newly-built street in the Oldpark area, with windows boarded up after having been smashed by a gang of masked men, he was transported back 56 years to August 1969 when he and his young family fled the original Annalee Street. In November last year, families were handed the keys to their new homes in the housing development just off Clifton Park Avenue. This morning the street was empty despite the warm summer weather. No-one is out in the bright sunshine. The windows of several homes remain boarded up. Now living in Lenadoon, Mr Neeson (83) said watching news reports of Catholic homes being attacked brought him back in time to over half a century earlier. “Annalee Street was a mixed street,” he recalls. “But mostly Catholic. They were big town houses and Catholics had started moving into the street over the previous years, but by 1969 things began to change and the intimidation started. “That summer bands started coming into the street at night, playing their music and intimidating residents. The tension was starting to rise and then loyalists would drive into the street shouting sectarian insults. After that they started breaking the windows of Catholic homes and people were fearful of what was coming next.”
