Paisley: No concessions for paramilitaries
All remnants of paramilitarism must disappear from the North's society, First Minister Ian Paisley insisted today.
As the Ulster Defence Association faced mounting criticism over recent riots, the Democratic Unionist leader said he would be meeting the British government to ensure paramilitaries were given no concessions .
The North Antrim MP claimed Wednesday’s disturbances in the loyalist Kilcooley estate in Bangor, involving up to 200 people, was the work of thugs and gangsters.
“It is by God’s mercy that no one was killed or very seriously injured during the violence in Kilcooley,” Mr Paisley said.
“I give the Chief Constable (Sir Hugh Orde) my full support as he fights this terrible evil of paramilitarism.
“It is absolutely imperative that every step is taken to ensure that all the remnants of paramilitarism are removed from society.
“I will be meeting with the government in the coming days to reiterate that there must be no conceding to paramilitaries.
“We must not feed them. They must be faced down and met with the full rigours of the law.”
Stormont Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness has also condemned Wednesday night’s attacks on the police in the Kilcooley area.
Police had earlier raided around 14 homes as part of an operation against organised crime in north Down linked to the Ulster Defence Association.
Community workers on the housing estate said tensions spilled over after one family burying a loved one were not allowed to enter their homes and dress for the funeral.
The disturbances in Kilcooley and a recent feud within the UDA in Carrickfergus has led to calls on the Stormont Social Development Minister Margaret Ritchie to withdraw £1.2m pledged by her Northern Ireland Office predecessor over four years to a loyalist community regeneration scheme.
The plan was promoted by the Ulster Political Research Group which provides political analysis to the UDA.
However UPRG spokesperson Frankie Gallagher has insisted the £1.2m package is not going to the UDA and is being administered by Farset Community Enterprises.
After Sir Hugh Orde said yesterday he would not give the UDA 50 pence, Ms Ritchie said last night she wanted to study police reports on the Kilcooley riot.
The nationalist SDLP Social Development Minister said: “The decent, law-abiding people in Kilcooley have the same right to be free of violence and crime as the rest of us.
“I am also deeply disturbed at the apparent use of guns against the police. The PSNI should be able to go about their duties without fear of threat of violence against them. Guns have no place in the peaceful society we are trying to create.
“I am very concerned at reports of UDA involvement in these serious disturbances, and I will want to consider the PSNI’s assessment at the earliest opportunity.”
Mr Paisley said today gangsters were destroying the communities they lived in through a culture of drugs and racketeering.
“We must protect the law-abiding people in these communities and free them from the grip of terrorism,” the First Minister insisted.
“This is not a time for letting up in our determination to rid Northern Ireland of every last vestige of terrorism.”
