Sinn Fein representatives said that a grieving mother was forced to leave her home where her son was due to be waked. 

Sinn Fein MLA Carál Ní Chuilín has claimed that loyalist paramilitaries threatened a woman and ordered her to leave her north Belfast home on Sunday.

The North Belfast MLA said that the "sickening and depraved" act of intimidation involved windows being smashed and a sectarian slur scrawled across the wall of her property. 

Ní Chuilín said the woman and her family had been left "very distraught" as they waited for the body of her son to come home.

 Ní Chuilín told the Belfast Telegraph that the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) confirmed that the loyalist paramilitary group, the UFF, were behind the vicious act.

“These shameful and depraved actions were carried in the full knowledge that her son, who died tragically last Thursday, was due to be waked from the family home," Ní Chuilín told the paper.

The woman reportedly sought help after she was told by a group of men they had 24 hours to leave. The outlet states that when the woman returned with PSNI officers to collect belongings from her home, windows had been smashed and "taigs out" (a derogatory reference to Catholics) had been sprayed on the Oldpark property's wall.

The woman was placed in emergency family accommodation to ensure her safety.

“These sickening actions must be condemned by all and the criminals responsible should pack up and get off the backs of the community. The continued existence of these armed groups is a blight on society," Ní Chuilín said.

The Sinn Fein representative called on the PSNI to intensify its efforts to remove loyalist paramilitaries and called for anybody with information about the attack to come forward.