Another night, another riot in north Belfast around Ardoyne. I'm not even going to comment on the fact that yet more petrol bombs were hurled at the officers caught in the middle of this pathetic but dangerous sectarian chest-beating aside to mention how dispicable it is.

Also in the same area, a Protestant family's home was attacked and had windows smashed in Alliance Gardens yesterday afternoon. Later (around 5:30 pm) a gang of 4 youths attacked Catholic homes in Cliftondene gardens with paint and petrol bombs, in an attack the local Sinn Fein representative described as sectarian.

He's almost undoubtedly right and the attacks are deplorable, but somehow I get the feeling he was only describing the latter attack as sectarian rather than both. This would be regrettable yet only too predictable given Sinn Fein's hierarchy of victims.

Follow up:

What's also curious is the reporting on the attacks (that's attacks; plural). The BBC devoted 15 paragraphs to the attack on Cliftondene Gardens while their entire reporting on the earlier attack on was limited to one sentence stating "Earlier, windows were smashed at a Protestant family's home in nearby Alliance Gardens." Even that's tucked away down the page in the middle of the report on the Clifotndene Gardens attacks and they didn't mention it on the television news at all.

There was also a petrol bomb attack on a house in Ballymoney last night. The BBC gave no background other than the police believed it was sectarian. In a self-confessed spot of MOPEry I immediately had my suspicions that despite the numerous recent attacks on Catholic in north Antrim, this may have been an attack on a Protestant home. I have no reason to believe this other than the fact the victim's religion was not mentioned.

UTV news gave a much more detailed report, but still doesn't confirm it. I suspect my original feelings may have been rather knee-jerk, but it does strike me as odd that the attack in Cliftondene was a 'sectarian attack on Catholics', while the attack in Ballymoney was just a 'sectarian attack'. The UTV report suggests that the attack was against a Catholic man, but doesn't actually state that, and I trust UTV news even less than the BBC's.

The barbarity of the attacks is in no way affected by the religion of the target, I just can't help feeling that there's some agenda behind the inconsistent reporting. Of course I fully realise this may be simple paranoia on my part, but I thought it was worth pointing out.