A Romanian family living in south Belfast have said they no longer feel safe in their home after their car was burnt out in a racist attack, belfasttelegraph.co.uk reports.
The car was extensively damaged and police are treating the arson attack as a hate crime.
The attack which happened at around 2am on Tuesday follows other reports of racist intimidation in the area in recent weeks.
Daniel Cirpaci (25) is originally from Romania and lives with his wife and two children on Ebor Street, beside Tates Avenue. He told the Belfast Telegraph he came home from work to find his car in flames.
“I’m working last night, coming home about three in the morning,” he said. “About 1.40am somebody put my car on fire. I don’t know why this happened.”
“I’ve lived (on this street) for two months with no problems. Here everybody is OK, this is the first problem.”
Mr Cirpaci said this is the first incident of intimidation he has had to deal with after two years of living in Northern Ireland. He added his parents had been due to visit for a holiday but he no longer wants to stay in the area as he fears for his family’s safety.