Almost 500 'stop and search' operations have been carried out by the PSNI in Co Antrim in just over six months.
It was claimed last night that the majority of the controversial operations took place in mainly nationalist districts of the Causeway Coast and Glens policing area.
Rasharkin Residents Collective spokesman Sean Hanna said people living around the village, and nearby Dunloy, have been singled out.
Figures it obtained from the PSNI under the Freedom of Information Act reveal that between April 1 and November 18 this year, 499 people were stopped and searched across the policing district - an average of two a day.
Most of the searches are carried out under the Justice and Security Act and Terrorism Act.
The Causeway Coast and Glens policing district covers parts of Co Antrim and Co Derry.
Figures provided for the Ballymoney policing area, which is now included within Causeway Coast and Glens, reveal that 186 people were subjected to stop and search operations between January 2013 and March 31 this year.
Mr Hanna claimed the special powers are being used to "harass" nationalist residents of the village.
“That is in an area where there has been no attacks or anything found, where all sectarian attacks have vastly reduced in the last four years,” he said.
“It seems as if the community has gone one way and the police have gone the other.”
A spokeswoman for the PSNI said: “The stop and search statistics referred to do not support the claim that statutory powers are being used in a discriminatory or disproportionate way against any section of our communities.”
