Boy attacked 'because of shirt'

From: BBC News, UK - Jul 31, 2003

An 11-year-old boy was attacked by a group of teenagers in west Belfast because he was wearing a Rangers football top, his family have claimed.

Adam Reid, who is deaf and communicates with sign language, was out with friends on Thursday when according to his mother, he was set upon at Broadway Roundabout by a gang.

Melanie McCourt said the youths ripped off his shirt and set it on fire.

"They removed his jacket first, then removed his Rangers shirt which was signed by the team's players," she said.

"The child was found more or less hysterical on the motorway."

Meanwhile, a bus carrying football supporters from Linfield's game with Rangers at Windsor Park was attacked in north Belfast on Wednesday.

Stones were thrown at the bus as it passed through the York Street area on its way back to Larne, breaking a window.

Last week, a 21-year-old west Belfast man wearing a Glasgow Celtic football shirt was attacked by up to 20 youths - some of them wearing Glasgow Rangers football shirts - at a golf course near Lisburn.

Earlier this month, five-year-old Curtis Martin received a serious eye injury after being hit by a stone which came through the window of a car he was travelling in with his father in south Belfast.

He was wearing a Rangers top and he was with his father who was in his band uniform, travelling home from an Orange march.

A surgeon operated for five hours to repair damage to his eye.

© BBC MMIII