POLICE are treating an attack on a teenage boy in North Belfast at the weekend as a sectarian hate crime.

It is understood that two boys, aged 12 and 13, were coming out of a shop in Cityside shopping centre on Sunday when they were approached by a group of youths before one was assaulted.

It is the second incident in a matter of weeks after a 13 year-old boy from the York Road area was assaulted at nearby KFC restaurant in Brougham Street.

North Belfast DUP MLA Brian Kingston said he would be meeting with the PSNI and Cityside management regarding the incidents.

"I am disgusted that a further sectarian attack has occurred at Cityside Shopping Centre.

"Two Protestant boys aged 12 and 13 were approached by three teenagers and asked ‘Where are you from?’ and ‘What are you doing in our area?’ following which one was punched in the head.

"We will be meeting with the PSNI and the shopping centre management to ask what is being done to catch those responsible and to bring these disgraceful and blatant sectarian attacks to an end? Utterly appalling."

Local Sinn Féin Councillor JJ Magee said: “This latest incident is absolutely disgraceful and I would appeal for anyone with information to come forward to the PSNI as soon as possible so that those responsible can be held accountable for their actions.

“Sectarianism must be confronted by the whole  community and  the statutory agencies must do all they can to combat it.

“My thoughts are with the victims of this attack and everyone should be free to go about their business free from such distressing incidents.

“It’s my understanding that the PSNI are following a specific line of enquiry at the moment.

“Having spoken to people in the area they have raised their concerns regularly about a small number of youths involved in criminality in the greater New Lodge.

“These sectarian incidents must stop now before anyone else is attacked and anyone else is harmed.”

SDLP councillor Paul McCusker called for an end to violence at the interface in North Belfast.

“This is the second attack in this area in a matter of weeks with an apparently sectarian motivation and I’m calling on the young people involved to wise up before someone gets seriously hurt or worse," he said.

"This is a public area that is used by people from all over our city and nobody has the right to intimidate anyone or make them feel uncomfortable. 

“The vast majority of people in this area want to live peacefully alongside their neighbours, we have much more in common than what separates us and when we see incidents like this happening in our community it’s important that we call it out, challenge it and do all we can to stop it. 

“We need our community leaders to work alongside our elected representatives to lower tensions in this area and send a clear message that this won’t be tolerated.

"I would also ask parents to ensure that their children are not engaging in this kind of activity.

"The majority of our young people are a credit to this area and should not be demonised, but the last thing we want is to see any young person ending up with a criminal record which could have a significant impact on their future.”

A PSNI spokesperson said: “Police are making enquiries following a report received of an assault which occurred at the Yorkgate Centre of North Belfast.

"Anyone with any information in relation to this incident is asked to contact police on 101, quoting reference number 1983 17/07/22.”