Sectarianism took a bizarre twist in north Belfast at the weekend. A young Catholic couple endured a harrowing night of intimidation at the hands of a nationalist mob who believed their victims were Protestants.
Given the sick hatred that drives such people, there are probably some of them full of remorse this morning.
Sadly their remorse will not be motivated by the simple awfulness of their actions but by the fact that the targets for their violence were not Protestants.
They should be left in no doubt that their actions were driven by sectarian hatred.
They are bigots pure and simple, no better than any other bigot who threw a stone or started a fire because of their hatred of 'the other side'.
After a night in which one of the couple was injured and the house they were renting was attacked the couple, who have two young children, have decided they will not be returning to the street.
It is sad that even as political representatives are this week struggling to reach a political accommodation in advance of new assembly elections, some people are still prepared to carry out such violent outrages.
Many people of goodwill are trying to end tension at interface areas and have met varying levels of success. Their efforts are undermined often by people of illwill, too many of whom exist on both sides of the community.
Despite what happened to this couple it should not dampen the enthusiasm of those who want to live in peace with their neighbours no matter what their religion – perceived or otherwise.
There has been too much driving of people into religious camps for our society to be described as healthy.
What we need is a community where the divisions are becoming more and more blurred week on week until one day there are no boundaries at all.
