Police are treating the assault of two teenage boys in Belfast over the weekend as a "sectarian motivated hate crime."
The two boys, aged 12 and 13, were confronted at Cityside Shopping Centre in North Belfast on Sunday afternoon.
MLA Brian Kingston said the boys were asked questions about their religion and where they're from, before one was "punched in the head."
Read more: Attack on 13-year-old being treated as ‘sectarian motivated hate crime’
In a statement issued to Belfast Live on Monday, Chief Inspector Allister Hagan said: “Police received a report of an assault which occurred at the Yorkgate Centre of north Belfast on Sunday 17th July.
“Enquiries are continuing and at this stage, the incident is being treated as a sectarian motivated hate crime.
“We would appeal to anyone with any information in relation to this incident, to contact police on 101 quoting reference number 1983 17/07/22. A report online using our non-emergency reporting form via http://www.psni.police.uk/makeareport/.
"You can also contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at http://crimestoppers-uk.org/.”
It follows reports of another similar assault in the same area earlier this month. On Sunday, July 3, a 13-year-old boy was attacked at a takeaway on Brougham Street.
The victim was allegedly subjected to derogatory comments about being a Protestant as he was kicked and punched.
Brian Kingston said he was "disgusted" following this further assault in the area. He said he will be meeting with police and shopping centre management to stop such incidents occurring again in the future.
In a post on social media, he said: "Disgusted that a further sectarian attack has occurred this afternoon at Cityside (Yorkgate) Shopping Centre. Two Protestant boys aged 12 and 13 were approached by 3 teenagers and asked ‘Where are you from?’ and ‘What are you doing in our area?’ following which one was punched in the head.
"We will be meeting with the PSNI and the Shopping Centre management to ask what is being done to catch those responsible and to bring these disgraceful and blatant sectarian attacks to an end? Utterly appalling."
Councillor Paul McCusker has also called for an end to violence at the interface. He said: "This is the second attack in this area in a matter of weeks with an apparently sectarian motivation and I’m calling on the young people involved to wise up before someone gets seriously hurt or worse.
"This is a public area that is used by people from all over our city and nobody has the right to intimidate anyone or make them feel uncomfortable.
“The vast majority of people in this area want to live peacefully alongside their neighbours, we have much more in common than what separates us and when we see incidents like this happening in our community it’s important that we call it out, challenge it and do all we can to stop it.
“We need our community leaders to work alongside our elected representatives to lower tensions in this area and send a clear message that this won’t be tolerated. I would also ask parents to ensure that their children are not engaging in this kind of activity.
"The majority of our young people are a credit to this area and should not be demonised, but the last thing we want is to see any young person ending up with a criminal record which could have a significant impact on their future.”
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