A 38-year-old man has been remanded in custody following an attack on a Catholic priest with a nativity scene statue during Mass in Co Down.
Mr Kevin Barry Johnston, of no fixed address, faced Ards magistrates on three charges relating to an assault on Father Henry McCann in the seaside town of Bangor yesterday.
A constable told the court Mr Johnston made no reply when charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm, having an offensive weapon and disrupting a public meeting.
Father McCann was treated for shock after being struck on the head with a statue of one of the three shepherds seized from the crib at St Comgall's Church on the Brunswick Road.
Mr Johnston was remanded in custody to appear in Ards Magistrates Court via videolink on New Year's Eve.