![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/5c972039-5918-4efa-9d6f-4dc5055ef1fd.jpg\")
<\/p>\nPolice have said they are also reviewing a number of recent incidents in the Rathcoole area to establish whether they are linked.<\/p>\n
Police also said local patrols in the area following the attack \u201cwill be increased\u201d.<\/p>\n
The vehicles sustained significant damage during the attack, footage of which was captured on the victim\u2019s CCTV camera.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The aftermath of the incident on Thursday night<\/p>\n
Cars damaged in racially motivated arson attacks in Rathcoole<\/p>\n
Two individuals can be seen approaching the car, before setting it alight and making off down an adjacent street.<\/p>\n
The victim \u2013 a black man \u2013 and his partner, who is from the Republic of Ireland, have a young child.<\/p>\n
“It is ridiculous. It is traumatic. We have an 18-month-old baby and we can\u2019t live like this,\u201d he told the Belfast Telegraph.<\/p>\n
“Both of the cars were burned. I am black and my partner is Irish. This is the fourth time, but I\u2019ve never seen it like this. This was the biggest attack.<\/p>\n
“It is embarrassing too. I pay my rent here, nobody has given me this free. I\u2019m not on any benefits or anything.<\/p>\n
“I don\u2019t have any other choice than to be here. I am scared \u2013 where am I going to go to?\u201d<\/p>\n
A PSNI spokesperson said they were investigating a number of reports of criminal damage in the area which they believe to be racially motivated.<\/p>\n
Chief Inspector Mullan said: \u201cMy officers are investigating two arson incidents which occurred on Thursday evening, June 5.<\/p>\n
“There have been several other hate crimes in this area in recent weeks and we will be reviewing all of the incidents to try to establish if they are linked.<\/p>\n
“Enquiries into both incidents, which are being treated as hate crimes, are ongoing, and we are appealing to anyone with any information which might assist us to come forward.<\/p>\n
“The number to call is 101, quoting reference number 1825 05\/06\/25.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese kind of attacks are completely unacceptable, and I want to make it clear that Police will do everything in their power to identify the offenders and bring them before the courts.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will be conducting a thorough investigation, and local patrols will be increased in this area as we work to bring this criminality, which has no place in our society, to an end.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe police cannot prevent and detect this behaviour alone and I would ask for the support of elected representatives, partner agencies, community leaders and local residents to work with us and help us to end these attacks.<\/p>\n
“These attacks are impacting on families living in the area, some of whom have young families.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Police have said they are also reviewing a number of recent incidents in the Rathcoole area to establish…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":163772,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[1211,1300,1144,1610,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-163771","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-antrim-news","9":"tag-liam-tunney","10":"tag-northern-ireland","11":"tag-police-service-of-northern-ireland","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114638165374426894","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163771\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/163772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}