Game over?
Thursday, 8 July 2010
FEARS are mounting that Antrim Council may have no option but to close the new park at Stiles Way after 'anti-social thugs' made it a virtual no-go zone for families.
Public faith in the facility was dented within days of its opening with reports of sectarian attacks on Catholic children and parents threatened by knife-wielding yobs.
Since then things have gone from bad to worse, with a string of visitors fleeing after crossing the path of the menacing mob of tearaway teens who have adopted the park as their base.
Fights have become commonplace and there have been disturbing reports of petrified children running to escape the clutches of the unofficial custodians - some narrowly missing oncoming cars.
One local woman, from the Steeple area, had to run with her children on Tuesday June 29 when a group of '20 or more hoods' began hurling abuse and then stones. Incredibly, they gave chase until she got home and called the police. By the weekend, one youth was helping the PSNI with heir enquiries.
DUP councillor John Smyth witnessed what he described as 'disgraceful' behaviour when he spent a 'depressing hour' in the park on Wednesday after be was briefed on the breakdown of law and order by a distressed parent.
“To say I was shocked would be an understatement," he said. "I was there in the middle of the afternoon and I would not have liked to have been there at 8pm at night.
“At one point a group of about 10 young lads started fighting among themselves and I waded in to split it up - only for one of their mothers to tell one of them to keep digging away because one of the lads had hit someone else. It was crazy."
Recent days have seen no shortage of reports of casual violence and open intimidation, with some youths observed brandishing and firing BB guns. Revolted residents have also spotted unwanted guests openly urinating - while human excrement has had to be scrubbed from the top of the slide.
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