Dallat complains about weekend loyalist march
SDLP East Derry Assembly Member John Dallat has made a complaint to the Parades Commission after permission was granted for a loyalist parade in Coleraine on Saturday.
Mr Dallat said the parade lead by a band formed to honour a UVF terror group killed by their own bomb was an unwanted reminder of the past.
He said: “Coleraine does not need displays of this kind in the commercial heart of the town. Perhaps more importantly local people who have been affected by the terror activities of the UVF and have lost loved ones in the past certainly don’t need to be reminded that this organisation is still glorified by their die-hard followers.
“The Freeman Memorial Band was given permission on ‘a once-off basis’ to enter the town centre in 2005, the 30th anniversary of the death of the four UVF gang who were priming a bomb believed to be intended for a Catholic-owned public house.
“It shocks and disgusts me that this ‘exception’ appears now to have become a permanent feature of this annual ritual in honour of one of the most ruthless Loyalist gangs to bring death and destruction to the streets of the north.”
Mr Dallat added: “Not a single gun or pipe bomb has been decommissioned by the UVF or UDA and as recently as last Thursday a 16 year old child was shot in both legs by masked men who certainly weren’t upholders of law and order but a constant reminder that in Coleraine there is still a plentiful supply of illegal weaponry about used at will by thugs working against the police and law and order.
“The silence of local DUP and Ulster Unionist politicians about this event is deafening and requires an explanation. Any suggestion that it could be connected with the Battle of the Somme and the participation of the 36th Ulster Division is nonsense and nothing more than a poor camouflage to disguise the real reasons.”
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Weather for Coleraine
Wednesday 23 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 10 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 12 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: East
