Former Red Hand Commando leader Winston ‘Winkie’ Rea should be remembered for transitioning the terror gang away from violence, a former PUP representative has said.
THE statement by the Loyalist Communities Council (LCC), which represents the Ulster Volunteer Force, the Ulster Defence Regiment and the Red Hand Commandos, states that these groups have not been involved in the recent violence and urged people not to get drawn into violent confrontations.
Community volunteers came onto the streets to try to encourage young people not to get involved in the rioting, but it could be said that the LCC in the loyalist community is especially well placed to ensure that people do not come onto the streets.
The reasons given for these riots are related to opposition to the Northern Ireland Protocol and the controversial decision last week not to prosecute 24 Sinn Fein politicians for attending the funeral of former IRA man Bobby Storey during strict Covid-19 rules limiting public gatherings. The funeral drew around 2,000 mourners.
A hundred years of trouble: How an outburst of violence exposed Northern Ireland as a failed state On the 100th anniversary of the divided state they created, the Ulster unionists, far from celebrating, are in thrall to a sense of doom. Will the constitutional experiment soon be over? The scenes of the recent violence in Belfast were like a rerun of images from the darkest days of the Troubles. A sense of inflammatory discord hung in the air as the police came under sustained attack, youths hurled petrol bombs and a double-decker bus was set alight. The escalating mood of conflict, given a bitterly ironic twist by occurring along the so-called peace lines in the city that separate Catholic and Protestant communities, was only compounded by ineffectual appeals for calm from politicians.
In Northern Ireland, a shift in enthusiasm for Irish unity | Brexit News aljazeera.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from aljazeera.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.