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Protestant Coalition: giustificato attaccare la polizia

Attacking police justified, says Protestant Coalition

Disordini lealisti, 9 agosto 2013, Belfast

Friday night’s attacks on the police were “justified”, a leading member of the Protestant Coalition has claimed.

Sam McCrory, chairman of the loyalist political party launched less than four months ago, also said that the police “took a very good beating and rightly so”.

In comments which could have serious legal repercussions for Mr McCrory, he explicitly defended the violence in a Facebook post.

That stance puts the Protestant Coalition, which was born out of the flag protests, in a more hardline position than the UVF’s political wing, the PUP, which condemned the rioting.

And in a separate video produced by the Protestant Coalition, Mr McCrory took credit for stopping Friday night’s dissident republican march entering Royal Avenue. Filmed after the riot, Mr McCrory said: “It’s been a victory for the Protestant, unionist, loyalist community here in the centre of Belfast. Dissident republicans didn’t get parading through the middle of our city. They were re-routed. In the end they accepted defeat. We claim the victory, so we do, for the decent citizens of Belfast.”

On Facebook on Saturday, responding to a comment from former TUV member David Vance that the violence in Belfast was wrong, Mr McCrory said: “David I [have to] disagree with you regarding the word WRONG. I do believe that you should replace it with the word JUSTIFIED. As one who was on the ground throughout yesterday and (sic) evening, I witnessed the brutality of the police against men, women and children without provocation and just to satisfy someone’s agenda.

“This is not the first time that I have witnessed events like this when police wade in hours before a parade takes place in order to get it started.

“They took a very good beating and rightly so because we [as] a people have had enough and what happened last night is just the beginning of the tide turning.”

Mr McCrory insisted he wanted to live in “a peaceful society” but said: “When the deck is unfairly stacked against you the only way is to challenge the dealer whatever way that you can.”

Mr McCrory could not be contacted yesterday. A colleague at the Protestant Coalition was also unable to track him down.

Unionist MLA John McCallister last night condemned Sam McCrory’s comments.

The NI21 deputy leader said: “There’s no justification whatsoever for what happened in Belfast on Friday night. When I condemn the violence, there are no ifs, buts or wherefores: it was wrong. Injuring police, wrecking our image internationally, jeopardising investment — it is wrong.”

Mr McCallister said that far from being a “victory” for unionism, as Mr McCrory claimed, Friday’s riot had been a disaster for everyone in Northern Ireland. He said that the “vast majority” of people would find it “crazy” to see a riot as victory.

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René Querin

Di professione grafico e web designer, sono appassionato di trekking e innamorato dell'Irlanda e della sua storia. Insieme ad Andrea Varacalli ho creato e gestisco Les Enfants Terribles.

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