Just when I thought the Protocol protests had simmered down and somewhat fizzled out, I got some surprising reports, which I had actually heard earlier yesterday and have now had confirmed by two others who were at the protest at Larne Harbour. The report mirrors news that Loyalist paramilitaries have been fining people within their own communities who carry out such mortal sins as reading the Irish News and have fined people £1000 for buying a dog off a Catholic. There are reports coming out of the Larne protest, that because the protests were so small in regard to the number of attendees, that Loyalist paramilitaries have started handing out £50 fines to their little minions who do not attend a protest when ordered to do so. So much for the freedom of expression and freedom to protest, eh? So much for defending their low-paid deprived areas.
These allegations come as the protests were, actually, starting to wind down. Possibly why the Loyalist paramilitaries have intervened to ensure the protests continue. Two people who were actually at the Larne protest claim there were approximately 50 – 70 people on Thursday night with around 80% of attendees actually being paramilitaries from Larne and Carrickfergus, many masked and all with their hoods up…in the warm sunshine. Last week at the same roundabout in Larne the attendance was approximately 10 people, with the PSNI actually driving round the roundabout laughing at the protestors, or so I’m told. One of the protestors allegedly attempted to acquire a consensus from the other 9 protestors to attack a police car the next time they drove by, in an attempt to provoke a reaction. However, the instigator of hypothetical violence did not get much of a following as sitting just up the road were 6 armoured PSNI Landrovers with roof mounted cameras and the majority of the protestors didn’t want any trouble…or so I’m told
Seriously though, that it took the intimidation by Loyalist paramilitaries to get people to protest the NI Protocol is very telling in itself. Many within Unionism, while unhappy about the NI Protocol on constitutional grounds are not willing to protest it let alone riot. Coleraine had a decent sized protest but word on the street is paramilitaries were involved there too with Coleraine being in an absolute grip of Loyalist paramilitarism.
With a PSNI officer’s three cars burned a few nights ago on the Glenarm Road, things seem to be heating up in Larne, where all the Protocol reactions seem to have originated initially. While asking a few questions today of Loyalists who live in the staunchly Loyalist area of Boyne Square one said to me “Those threats that were sprayed at Larne Harbour were sprayed by someone, who was told to do it by someone else, who was told by someone up the road to get it done”. I was also informed that the telephone pole outside the PSNI officer’s home had never had a flag on it. That is until a few days before his cars were burned, when a UVF flag was erected on it in the dead of night.
I don’t make light of any of this generally. I live in what could be described as a heartland of Loyalism, I’ve been sent a Loyalist magazine in the post called ‘Purple Standard’ with the words “WE KNOW” typed on an A4 sheet of paper. Inside said publication was a full run down of a Republican parade which took place in Belfast called ‘The Peace and Reconciliation March’ which started in different parts of Belfast and converged on City Hall. At the time I was in a Republican flute band. In that publication was a picture of me and my band members with my face circled. I have lived in this town all my life. I’ve had my windows smashed, my car burned, called all sorts of names and slurs. In the end, there are decent Unionists out there, some of whom support the NI Protocol and some who don’t. One thing I have learned is this…What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger- something some Unionists need to learn in relation to Brexit and a united Ireland. Westminster is quite literally fed up with Unionism in the North, they are not seen as British, simply Unionist of a dissident hue, which is massive when it comes to the Union.
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