A building on the Shankill Road intended to become an Indian grocery store was gutted by fire in the early hours of Saturday. The Police Service of Northern Ireland is treating the blaze as arson and a racist hate crime.

The former Shankill Gospel Hall had been purchased by business owners who planned to create local jobs, according to police. Superintendent Dornan said the out-of-use building was bought by legitimate investors and that an enhanced level of supervision, investigation and support would be provided to the victims.

At Stormont on Monday, Foyle MLA Mark H. Durkan described the attack as terrorism, not simply vandalism. He told the Assembly that friends from minority ethnic backgrounds had asked him whether they still had a future in Northern Ireland.

Mr Durkan noted that every party in the chamber had condemned the attack. He called for both the PSNI and the courts to pursue the perpetrators and to impose sentences that demonstrate hate crimes will not be tolerated.

He said the individuals responsible will be caught and will lose, and he expressed solidarity with the targeted business owners and with all minority communities facing such bigotry.