RESIDENTS of a group of flats in west Belfast have told how they feel like "prisoners in their own homes", with many unwilling to venture outside at night due to anti-social behaviour.
Tyre marks left by car criminals, smashed windows and security gates covering front doors are among the sights which greet visitors to the Ross Street flats, a short distance from the Falls Road.
Some residents were too frightened to speak yesterday, one agreeing to talk only on condition of anonymity.
The man said despite regular headlines about crime in the area, levels of anti-social behaviour "haven’t changed" in the decade he has spent in the flats.
He claimed groups of teenagers, some as young as 13, are making daily life a misery for residents by verbally abusing people going to Mass, pulling up trees, stealing cars, taking drugs and vandalising fences.
Grilles could be seen yesterday covering windows of downstairs flats inside one of the communal hallways.
The man said: "These are generations of people involved. The kids get a bit older and move on, and then another group of younger ones come along. It’s like Beirut in places."
A campaign to get the flats demolished gathered pace when former republican prisoner Frank 'Bap' McGreevy died days after being brutally attacked in his Ross Street home in March 2008.
Some of the flats and houses were demolished in 2011 to make way for new family homes, but residents and politicians have called for the entire set to be cleared.
The Department of Social Development has said it is awaiting the outcome of a consultation with residents but there are currently no plans to demolish the flats.
Michael Donnelly, from the Falls Community Council, said one resident told social development minister Mervyn Storey during a visit to the area this week that living in the flats "is like being in a prison".
"It is a small minority who are holding this community to ransom," he said.
"Residents can’t do things that people living in other areas take for granted, like parking your car safely or going out for a walk at night."
Amongst the more extreme incidents in recent months include vandals attempting to set fire to gas pipes in the flats, according to Vincent McElkerney from the Falls Residents Association.
Mr McElkerney said: "It is like a jail. It comes from certain families who don’t care and let their kids run wild, and there is also lot of drugs in this area."
