Police are appealing for information and witnesses after a report of a fire at commercial premises in the Sandy Row area of south Belfast shortly after 3.35am on Friday, August 18th.

T/Superintendent Finola Dornan said: "Our officers attended, along with colleagues from the Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service, who extinguished the blaze. 

“We are treating this as a racially-motivated hate crime.   Thankfully, no one was injured but significant damage and disruption has been caused.

"As part of our ongoing enquiries, we are keen to speak to two males who were seen in the area before this incident.  They were described as wearing all black clothing and were travelling on foot in the direction of Schomberg Park.

“I would appeal to anyone who was in the area at the time and saw anything, or who may have dashcam, CCTV, or other footage, to contact us on 101, quoting reference 198 of 18/8/23”.

Alternatively, you can submit a report online using the non-emergency reporting form via http://www.psni.police.uk/makeareport/.   

You can also contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at http://crimestoppers-uk.org/