Sectarian Interface Violence: ‘Hate Crime’ or ‘Anti-Social
Behaviour’?
During an interview, Jim took the author to Saint Matthew’s church (a
Catholic Church on the Protestant/loyalist Newtowards Road, inner-east
Belfast) to illustrate the visible damages of sectarian hate crime on an
interface: there was sectarian graffiti daubed on the church and the remnants of paint-bomb attacks could still be seen on its walls and roof.
Moreover, during the disturbances surrounding the summer riots of 2011
on the Newtownards Road, Jim recounts the pernicious nature of interface violence: cars in the area were damaged and burnt during bouts of
sectarian hostilities; and:
…young republican youths actually came up here and attacked these
houses [points to houses along the lower Newtownards Road] with
baseball bats and broke the windows; they [local residents] then put
up grills there in their windows every night [for protection].
These examples, which highlight the harm and negative impact of interface violence upon communities, lend to the argument that it is a form of
hate crime: there is evidently a sectarian-based motive in attacking the
‘Other’ community which has resulted in criminal damage. Th R