A 16 YEAR OLD youth was suspended from railings and beaten until his two legs were broken in west Belfast on Saturday. It was one of a number of weekend beatings and attempted beatings.
The youth was abducted by a number of men in the New Barnsley area late on Saturday night. He was taken to an alleyway, his legs were tied with tape and he was hung upside down from railings.
A number of men beat him until his two legs were broken. Police said the attack was "particularly nasty". A spokesman said such attacks had nothing to do with paramilitaries being concerned about anti social behaviour but with their exercising power and control over local communities.
On Monagh Road in west Belfast, a gang of five men claiming to be from the IRA attacked a 22 year old man on Saturday. He was taken to hospital suffering from cuts to the head and upper body and bruising to the body and arms.
In Derry, another 16 year old suffered head and arm injuries after being attacked and beaten. Also in Derry on Friday, a man from Ballymagroarty escaped unharmed as six masked men were breaking into his house. The gang vandalised the man's BMW car with wooden clubs.
In Carrickfergus, Co Antrim, a man had his two arms broken after he was beaten by eight men after midnight on Friday. A woman was also injured in the attack. Also in Antrim early yesterday, a couple were attacked by a gang of men in the bedroom of their home on the Greystone Estate.
