NI Conservatives’ spokesman, Trevor Ringland, has condemned the latest attacks on police by flag protesters in east Belfast and emphasised that the vast majority of unionists are doing the right thing by attempting to get on with their lives, in the face of disruption.
“This disorder and violence against the police is simple thuggery and it will achieve absolutely nothing”, Trevor emphasised. “Indeed the whole protest movement, if it has any effect at all, is likely to undermine support for the Union.”
“It can’t be emphasised enough that the participants, who insist on describing themselves as ‘The People’, are a tiny minority of pro-Union people and an even tinier minority of the whole community in Northern Ireland. The overwhelming majority of unionists, the overwhelming majority of the whole community, are doing exactly the right thing and getting on with their lives, despite the disruption.”
“Rather than interrupt the economic life of the Province, protesters could campaign for something constructive, like flying of the Union Flag on designated days everywhere in Northern Ireland. Let’s see our national symbol used constructively, to express the constitutional preference of the majority of people here, rather than divisively, to exclude part of the population.”