A West Belfast pastor has spoken of his "deep sadness" after the scenes he witnessed on Tuesday night as he went to help the occupants of a house that was under attack.
Pastor Jack McKee, from New Life City Church on Northumberland Street, went to the aid of a woman who attends the church.
"I had no intention going onto the streets but after making a few phone calls to check on some of our people at New Life, I was soon in my car," he explained.
"We went to the home of one of our women in Ballysillan. The home had been attacked. Windows smashed with attempts to set the house on fire, but thankfully they did not succeed, although the house next door was burning furiously.
"We made our way past the firemen, while getting drenched with their houses and were brought into the back of the house. There were two women – two Christian women in their care-worker uniforms. One was in an awful state, lying on the floor in fear for four hours. Two ambulance staff were tending to her.
"Firemen and police arranged to get them out of the house and into my car, but a crowd of hooded young men had gathered with bricks in their hands.
"I explained that these were Christian women who belonged to our Church and that I needed to get them out.
"I asked them to give me ten minutes before they did what they were planning to do.
"Some of them dropped their bricks and agreed to do so. We got the women into the car and took them to a safe place.
"I'm deeply saddened by this and by the violence and destruction across Belfast and beyond. Public transport burned. Private cars burned. Homes burned. Lives at risk. Innocent people fearful."
A NIFRS spokesperson said it had been a “busy evening responding to a high volume of fire calls”.
The spokesperson added: “Between 7pm and midnight our Regional Control Centre have managed 256 calls resulting in attendance at 62 incidents.
“The majority of these incidents were in the Greater Belfast area where an additional 21 fire appliances from across Northern Ireland were required to meet demand.”
