UVF flag is ‘legal’-cops
Police say a UVF flag flying in the Edenmore Road area of Limavady, which two MLAs are calling for to be removed, is legal.
The flag adorns a lamp post on Rossair Road, close to a health centre.
East Derry Sinn Fein MLA Cathal O’hOisin said he has received calls from people worried “it has a sinister tone to it”. He said it is “cause for concern” and was due to meet with police yesterday in an effort to have it removed. “It seems that across the board everything has been racheted up this year, obviously muscles are being flexed,” he said, adding it might be more to do with what’s happening within loyalism “than anything else”.
SDLP’s John Dallat said: “It is sinister. Given the efforts by the UVF to heighten tension in Belfast and other places it should be taken seriously. The flying of paramilitary flags on public lamp posts is disgraceful and given this is the lead up to events organised by the Orange Order its members have a moral duty to use their influence to have these disgraceful emblems removed. They are offensive, obscene and should be removed immediately.”
A PSNI spokesperson said: “Police have viewed the flag in this incidence and it has been deemed legal. We are aware that the issue of flags remains a very difficult and emotive one and would continue to urge everyone to keep working to ensure that people can live without fear or intimidation, which is a basic fundamental human right.”
