An Orange hall in Co Tyrone has been damaged after a mechanical digger was deliberately driven through a wall.
A 12ft by 12ft hole was left in one wall of the Moree Orange Hall near Pomeroy following the attack early yesterday. Extensive damage was also caused to the roof of the building. The Police Service of Northern Ireland said it was "a deliberate act of destruction".
A spokesman said they were keeping an open mind as to the motive. However, a local Ulster Unionist Assembly member, Mr Billy Armstrong, blamed republicans.
He said the Orangemen had recently paid tribute to the Scots poet, Robbie Burns, at a Burns night. "On Saturday night, they had their Burns supper and they thought they were able to exercise their culture.
"But it wasn't long until the nationalist, republican people of that area let them know this was only short-lived. It just looks as if someone was there to start to demolish the hall."
A spokesman for Moree Orange Hall said the building had been attacked on numerous occasions in the past. "It was only rebuilt in 1999 after being burned down on July 13th, 1997, in an arson attack," he said.
"In the previous times, there have been about six attacks on this hall - arson, stone-throwing, minor attacks, major attacks."
Meanwhile, an Ulster Unionist MLA, Sir Reg Empey, said nationalists from the Short Strand had launched an "unprovoked attack" with bottles and stones on Protestant houses in Cluan Place in east Belfast.
He said the Protestant area had only just started to attract back the residents who had been previously driven out.
"Republicans need to get the message that the local population in Cluan Place will not be moved out of the area again," he added.