The IRSP's North Belfast representative Paul Little said:

"The murder bid happened on the Somerton Road on Saturday afternoon, a local builder who was in his van when a armed man fired two shots at him. Fortunately the man was not hit but two bullets entered the van through the rear window. The car used in the sectarian attack was found burnt out in the Mount Vernon area, which leads us to believe that the attack was carried out by the UVF who control that area. The PSNI sealed off the area around the attack on the Somerton Road just off Fortwilliam on the Antrim Road."

In conclusion the IRSP representative said:

"The North Belfast branch of the IRSP in condemning the murder bid are asking a number of questions of the PSNI and the DPP.

Why have the PSNI hushed up and blacked media coverage of the attack?

Whose agenda are they working to in hushing up the murder bid?

Have the DPP authorised a general hushing up of sectarian attacks in North Belfast ?

In raising these serious questions, it is hard not to conclude that the PSNI,either of their own volition or on the direction of the British government or DPP, are deliberately down playing sectarian attacks by loyalist murder gangs due to the sensitivity of the current negotiations. Peace will not be built on lies and coverups, there is a very real need for peace to be built from the ground upwards, with some degree of honesty. Only the cause of sectarian division is served by state coverups.

STATEMENTS ENDS