Deerpark Road, an unremarkable residential street in north Belfast, is bearing witness to scenes of extraordinary and terrifying bigotry and hatred.
This is a street where Protestants and Catholics live side by side, and where householders are busy paying mortgages and getting on with life.
Yet a deeply sinister element is engaged in a vicious, frightening and relentless campaign to drive out Catholic families.
In recent days, a gang of up to 30 men attacked four homes belonging to Catholics.
Loyalist slogans were painted on houses; and bricks, bottles and golf balls were thrown through windows.
On Tuesday night a mob gathered outside one of the homes which had previously been attacked.
However, the alarm was raised and the police arrived at the scene.
The result of these and other incidents, which are being blamed on the UDA, is that families are fleeing their homes.
One family who moved out last weekend had suffered almost a dozen attacks since January.
In a particularly sick incident their pet cat was mutilated and left to die on their driveway, where it was discovered by a seven-year-old girl.
It is not just Catholics who are living in fear of these extreme elements.
Protestants who come to the aid of their neighbours are also being subjected to intimidation.
By any standards, this is an appalling situation. The fact that people are being forced to leave their homes because of their religion should be causing an outcry.
Yet, apart from local priests and nationalist representatives, we are hearing very little outrage about the plight of these families.
The police have a duty to protect vulnerable families under attack. At the very least there should be a nightly police presence.
Determined efforts also need to be made to arrest those responsible for the terror and misery being inflicted in this area.
And those with influence in the loyalist community must use it to end the systematic, insidious and loathsome sectarian campaign taking place in Deerpark Road.
