Cars burned during County Antrim racist attacks

Two cars have been set alight in a County Antrim suburb in what police are treating as racially-motivated hate crimes.

The vehicles were parked outside the homes of an Indian family and a Filipino family.

Both incidents took place in the Fernagh Avenue area of Whiteabbey at about 0130 BST on Tuesday.

The two cars were extensively damaged while scorch damage was caused to the front of a house.

One vehicle is owned by an Indian family.

The couple and their three children have been living in the area for a few years.

The woman, a staff nurse at Belfast City Hospital, said this was the second time their car has been attacked.

She believes there was a racist motive behind the incident.

The other car belongs to a Filipino family who said they did not know why their vehicle was targeted.

The car had been parked outside the home of another Filipino family who had moved in earlier this year.

That family said they moved to the area because they "thought it was safe".

SDLP Newtownabbey councillor Noreen McClelland said: "Racism has no place in our society and racist attacks are disgraceful.

"Everybody has the right to live where they choose in peace and not have their most basic civil and human rights abused by people with a warped sense of their own importance."