The escalation in violent clashes between Nationalists and Loyalists in North Belfast will put jobs and investment at risk unless the situation can be resolved within days, say senior industry leaders in the North.
Employer and business bodies are concerned that the tension between the two communities in the north of the city has the potential to drag local firms and their workers into the dispute.
A Marks & Spencer distribution centre on the outskirts of Belfast yesterday confirmed that Republican paramilitaries had threatened members of its workforce who are from the Protestant community. The Newtownabbey-based Hyde Park centre said it had received a threat via a telephone call. Marks & Spencer said it would review security at the centre while the Police Service of Northern Ireland is to increase patrols in the area.
The Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce said there could be no doubt that the unrest in North Belfast had already had a serious effect on the local economy.
Mr John Stringer, chief executive of one of the North's largest business bodies, said it had undermined an already fragile economy. Tourism is likely to be among the first casualties of the current unrest, according to the chairman of the Northern Ireland Tourist Board, Mr Roy Bailie, who warned that international media coverage of the recent riots may already have had unwelcome implications for potential tourism revenue this year.
