A man from Nigeria has said he is afraid to move into his new Belfast home after he arrived to find five people protesting on the doorstep.
Michael Abiona, 34, was greeted with posters reading “Local Houses 4 Local People” at Glenluce Drive, east Belfast, on Tuesday.
Mr Abiona who has been living in Northern Ireland since 2010 said four women and a man were outside the house.
They asked how he had managed to get the house and whether he was disabled.
Now, he said, he will not move into the Housing Executive property at Knocknagoney because the mother of his son is frightened and will not allow their child to visit the house.
Mr Abiona said he had reported what happened to the police.
Protesters tell man he is not welcome in east Belfast (BBC News NI)
Update:
Mr Abiona spoke to Lisa McAlister on BBC Radio Ulster’s ‘The Stephen Nolan Show’ this morning.
Meanwhile…
However @DUPleader says he's not sure incident can be described as racism in terms of the intention of the housing protestors
— Mark Devenport (@markdevenport) June 18, 2014
Video – Robinson: East Belfast housing protest ‘not racist’ (Mark Devenport, BBC News NI)
Previously: Ulster Says No