Protesters Confront Estate Agency Over Misleading Claims of Assisting Asylum Seekers

Rea Estates has once again been targeted by far right protesters over false claims its is helping house asylum seekers.

Robert McDowell, the director of the Belfast-based estate agency, had his business picketed by demonstrators at the start of last week.

This is not the first time that campaigners have targeted the estate agency.

The businesses was targeted twice in a week last year, with the agency’s premises rammed by a car on one occassion.

According to the police, masked men drove a hijacked car into the building on Woodvale Road.

At the time, McDowell told the press that he believed his firm was targeted because of claims he was renting homes to asylum seekers. Six people were arrested and later charged.

McDowell received a phone call telling him that masked men had made at least two attempts to ram a car into his business and that a large crowd had gathered outside the premises.

“I’m sitting here in shock – totally shocked to be truthful – and a bit scared and very, very concerned for the people in that building,” he said the time.

McDowell told BBC Radio Ulster’s Nolan Show last year that staff had expressed concerns about returning to work.

“They’re worried about actually being in their own homes because some of them live quite close by and close to our office, that this could spread and they themselves could be targeted because of where they work,” he added.

The estate agency has been based in the area for about 30 years.

McDowell told BBC News NI false claims had circulated on social media claiming the business was providing homes for asylum seekers.

He said the claims were “100% totally untrue”.

His tenants require locally-based guarantors and references from other people who are residents of Northern Ireland before they can rent a home, he said.

The estate agent said he did rent homes to tenants who came from overseas to work in Northern Ireland, including health staff.

Some of McDowell’s tenants have reportedly been intimidated out of their homes due to racism.

“There’s one tenant who has said he’s had enough. He’s going back to Africa,” he said.

“I know of another family who returned to India. She was a nurse but her house was targeted, and a sticker was put on the window, which made it very clear that because of where she was born, she wasn’t welcome in the area.”