A MAN who was installing water meters has narrowly escaped injury following a petrol bomb attack.

Gardai are investigating the assault on a water meter installation crew after an incendiary device was thrown at a van owned by Coffey Northumbrian in a housing estate in Co Louth on Monday evening.

The petrol bomb landed on the roof of the vehicle, setting it alight. A worker in his 50s at the rear of the vehicle narrowly escaped serious injury.

The incident happened at 4pm at Ballsgrove in Drogheda during an anti-water charge protest.

Gardai said an incident of "criminal damage by fire" was being investigated.

The attack is the latest in a series of incidents against company workers who have the regional contract to install meters in Louth, Cavan, Monaghan, Longford, Meath and Westmeath.

Other incidents in recent weeks include workers being threatened with knives and other weapons; excrement being smeared on safety barriers, stones, fireworks and other objects being thrown and damage to windows, tyres and lights on vehicles. In another case, a worker was approached by a man with a shotgun in his car.

A company spokesman said that racist and threatening messages were being posted on social media sites, which were not being removed.

While the vast majority of meter installations proceeded with no difficulty, that there was a "threatening element" among some protesters, the firm said.

Irish Independent