Loyalist Threats Must Be Confronted- SDLP

Unionist leaders have been urged to confront threats of disruption, disorder and violence issued from the loyalist community in recent days.

The SDLP is demanding action after threats of civil disobedience emerged from paramilitaries in relation to Northern Ireland's position in the EU being potentially diluted post-Brexit.

The loyalist community stands firmly against any withdrawal arrangement that would align the region with the Republic in a customs arrangement.

SDLP Policing Spokesperson Dolores Kelly said no circumstances warrant disorderly or violent reactions from paramilitaries.

She commented: "The reports from the Chief Constable about the threat of disruption and disorder from loyalist groups based on a perceived outcome in Brexit talks are disturbing. I hope that his analysis is based on police intelligence and not simply the rants of irrelevant rabble rousers who pose as spokespeople for men of violence.

"We also need to hear the voices of unionist leaders with influence in loyalist communities. There are people in communities that have been marginalised and abandoned who are at risk of manipulation and radicalisation by those intent on violence.

"We cannot allow paramilitaries to exercise control over people or communities any longer. And they cannot be given the opportunity to reassert their jackboot on people who want to live in peace," the Upper Bann MLA concluded.

Just this week, a unionist meeting at the Con Club in east Belfast was held amid the ongoing Brexit talks, with the resolving message being that unionist and loyalist people are not going to tolerate an economic united Ireland.



(JG/CM)