24/04/2014 BBC Newsline

Good evening. The police are treating two attacks in Belfast as

hate crimes. Last night shots were fired at the home of a traveller

family in the west of the city. Seven people were inside at the

time. Earlier this week a gang of 15 attacked two Polish men and a woman

in south Belfast. Ita Dungan reports.

They had moved in less than a week ago and last night shots came

through the windows of their new home. A couple and their five

daughters, all members of the travelling community, where inside.

All seven escaped injury. On the other side of the city as the sun

set on Easter Monday evening, a group of 15 people armed with golf

clubs set upon two men and a woman here at Lower Mount Street. The 3Com

all Polish, were left beaten, cut and bruised. One of the men lost two

tease. Locals say the area was full of drunk youngsters following a

parade, but nobody I saw -- but nobody I spoke to saw anything.

Naomi Long believes some attacks like this strike fear into

communities. If we have gangs running around attacking people in

the street, it is a terrifying experience of people in the

neighbourhood. People feel intimidated. That is why I am

appealing to go to the police and assist them with enquiries. Someone

must have seen something on Monday. Given the number of people

involved. Work with the police and bring them to justice because these

are dangerous people who need to be taken off the streets. The police

say they are following several lines of enquiry, including asking if

Loyalist paramilitaries were behind the attack. Earlier this month the

assistant chief said the UVF in South and East Belfast had been

orchestrating racist attacks. He said this had led to a 70% increase

in hate crimes in Belfast. He also described the attacks as having a

deeply unpleasant taste of a little bit of ethnic cleansing. Whether

against travellers in the west of the city or Polish people in the

east, the impact of hate crimes like these can have a devastating effect

on those involved. There were more apologies today from

the Ulster Bank, after yet more glitches in its IT system. This time

some customers who used its cash machines to withdraw money had their

accounts debited twice. The bank says it's working to put the money

back into the accounts and customers won't be left out of pocket. It's

understood all the money will be restored by 2:00am tomorrow morning.

The streets of Larne came to a standstill for a short time this

evening as a parade took place to mark the centenary of the night a

huge shipment of arms arrived in the County Antrim town. As David Maxwell

reports, the weapons were smuggled in by unionists who were opposed to

Home Rule. Guns arrived in Lahm-macro -- guns

arrived in Larne this evening. But these do not work. A century ago it

was a different story. This ship arrived loaded with 200 tonnes of

weaponry from Germany, brought here by Unionists prepared to resist Home

Rule by force if necessary. They wanted to preserve their position in

the United Kingdom. They were asking to remain part of the United

Kingdom. They believed the government would force them out of

that and they acted as many people would act in those circumstances.

100 years on, members of the Orange Order celebrated the night the guns

arrived at this harbour town, with music, marching and medals. Those

taking part believe the extraordinary events of 1914 forced

their forefathers to take extra ordinary action to stop I would not

want weapons to be coming into Larne now, but 100 years ago there was no

choice. The English government word trying to impede the Ulster people.

Their views of Home Rule, it would never have worked. This parade is

just one of the number of events being held in Larne this week to

mark the centenary of the gun smuggling operation. It was an event

in which many orange men were involved. Larne district members and

bands made their way to the seafront, to the coal ship which

brought over 20,000 rifles and millions of rounds of ammunition.

The operation became known as the Larne gun-running. A century on, the

running here is of a different sort. Up to ?10 million could be spent on

building a cycling and pedestrian bridge over the River Lagan in

Belfast. A consultation exercise on the plan was carried out in January

and three design options have been short listed. The Department of

Regional Development will now carry out an economic appraisal of the

scheme before asking the Stormont Executive for funds. The project

itself is very important for the locality. This is an area where we

are now linking east and south Belfast very safely through the

park, into the gasworks, into the city centre.

Organisers of the opening ceremony of the Giro D'Italia cycle race have

blamed "extremely high demand" for the long delays in getting tickets

online. In Belfast city centre, people queued from 5:00am this

morning for one of the 5,000 tickets. BBC Newsline's Mark Simpson

went to speak to them. Who cares about the Giro D'Italia?

Judging by the size of this queue for tickets for the opening

ceremony, a lot of people. All different ages, from all different

parts of Northern Ireland. And the first-tier was a cycling fan from

South Armagh. -- the first one here. He arrived very early. For 40

5am. Why? The Giro D'Italia, in Northern Ireland, yes. Almost 500

people were worth -- waiting, but they said it was worth it.

Fantastic, tickets. The doors have been no most open for an hour but

there are still more than 100 people here. What does the size of risk you

tell us about the race? It is pleasantly surprising. Everybody is

amazed about the number of people here and it is a reflection of the

interest we have, everybody seems to be phoning partners and the online

system seems to be creaking as well. It certainly was. Some people had to

wait more than one and a half hours and there were many complaints. The

lucky ones who got tickets will get to see the Giro D'Italia opening

Serie A money in two weeks' time and that includes Belfast City Council

is, who have been allocated two each. -- the opening ceremony.

Cycling here is gaining more and more fans.

Thieves are being condemned for putting lives at risk by stealing a

vital piece of equipment from an ambulance in Londonderry. The heart

defibrillator was taken from the vehicle owned by the independent

company, CPNI, which was parked in the grounds of Altnagelvin Hospital

on Monday. They do routine transfers from hospital to hospital, or

hospital to home. We do sporting events. We have a big event this

weekend, which due to the breakdown we are down a defibrillator, which

could be a vital piece of equipment that we might The railway line

between Lisburn and Portadown has now reopened.

Need. It was closed for several hours earlier this evening following

an incident. Translink say services may be delayed because of the

disruption. Nominations for the European

elections have now closed. It's been confirmed ten candidates will be

vying for the three seats. You can see the list on our news website.

The poll will be held on May 22nd, the same day as the election to 11

new councils. Finally onto the weather forecast.

Here's Cecilia Daly. Hello, we have had a lovely day.

More of the same tomorrow, but different this coming weekend. It

will stay clear tonight. Temperatures will continue to fall.

Quite chilly, especially in the countryside. 2-3d. There may be a

touch of frost on the ground. That will not last long. The day is

looking nice for most places most of the time. The second half of the

morning will start to feel warmer in the early morning sunshine. Light

winds for a good part of the day. Northern Ireland is one of the best

places to be across Britain and Ireland tomorrow. There will be a

few sharp showers over the Republic but also some sunshine. Otherwise

lots of cloud for many parts of Scotland and England. West Wales and

the south-west seeing a bit of sunshine. Quite cold near some of

the North Sea coasts. This rain you see across central areas could be

heavy and thundery. If you catch a shower tomorrow afternoon you will

be very unlucky in Northern Ireland. The highest temperatures tend to be

in the West. 15-16dC. A breeze towards the east coast, feeling

cooler later in the day. An increasing research -- risk of

showers, tomorrow night will end up wet in most places. A wet start of

the weekend. It should improve gradually during the second half of

Saturday. On Sunday, not too bad, maybe not as warm as the last couple

of days especially towards the north coast. A couple of showers.

That is it for now. Enjoy your