Residents in Derry’s Alexander House fearful of being targeted during Saturday night’s rioting

The manager of Alexander House sheltered housing complex in Derry said residents living there had been fearful about being targeted during rioting nearby.

Gerry Harnett said residents had been asked to close their windows because petrol bombs were being thrown at PSNI Land Rovers parked in the adjoining Nailor’s Row, on Saturday night.

“Our residents were concerned and a bit shocked,” said acting manager Mr Harnett. “I don’t understand why anyone would get involved in a riot outside an old people’s home at night time.”

The violence, which followed a largely peaceful Apprentice Boys march in the city, was widely condemned.

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Foyle MP Colum Eastwood said he believed dissident republicans orchestrated the “recreational rioting”.

Petrol bombs, fireworks and stones were thrown by nationalist youths at police lines during several hours of trouble in Nailor’s Row on Saturday evening.

One resident, Sophia (89) described how she had been watching the Olympic Games when she heard a “huge bang”.

“I jumped, and I thought, ‘That doesn’t sound like fireworks’. The night before, they had been letting off fireworks in The Fountain [opposite Alexander House] – but we paid no heed to that because we are used to it.

“I went over to my window, and I said, ‘Good God, what’s on fire?’. When I looked down, all I could see was police. There were three Land Rovers across Nailor’s Row and they were driving slowly down. As they came down, there was a line of police in riot gear.

“I said, ‘What’s happening?’ The next thing I saw was young ones, boys and girls, coming up and I will be quite truthful, they must have been only seven or eight years of age, some of them. Where, answer me a question, where were their parents?

“The young ones seemed to know what they were doing. What really frightened me to be quite truthful was they had set alight whatever it was, just directly outside here, and if it had caught the trees, the fire would have come right up to us,” she said.

The elderly resident said the rioting went on into the night.

“I got a bit frightened,” she added, “and I decided to switch off the lights and the television in case it attracted their attention and they decided to throw something up at my window and I would be left without a home.”

“What I don’t understand is why no adult was saying to the young ones involved in the riot, that they were right beside Alexander House, which is full of older people. We have 20 people down below who require 24 hour care.

“Would they like their mother, or themselves when they are older, to be treated like that, people who are simply doing nothing on them?” she said.

A spokesperson for Apex Housing Association, which manages Alexander House, said the “normal peace and serenity enjoyed by residents was disrupted”.

“Alexander House offers sheltered accommodation and housing with care for older people in the heart of the city. On Saturday night, many tenants felt frightened and upset.”