In a statement on September 3, 2024, a spokesperson for Comhairle Uladh, (Ulster Executive), Sinn Féin Poblachtach, said, referring to sectarian signs erected by loyalists in Co Tyrone: “We are not surprised to see such vileness in an area that has seen 28 sectarian murders and attempted murders, supported by British state collusion and the UVF’s Mid-Ulster gang.

“This race-hate declaration upon signage has appeared in Moygashel, near Dungannon, Co Tyrone, an area within Mid-Ulster seen as an Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) death squad stronghold. The message was clear; they want ‘no illegal immigrants for one mile’.

“In recent years politically conscious loyalists within the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP), with its links to the UVF, advocated gay and lesbian rights and adopted a pro-choice position on abortion. In addition to this, loyalists re-imaged murals and began disassembling the culture of militarism, asserted the rights of ethnic minorities, and in some areas set up projects with recent immigrants. Is there a shift in loyalist discourse and has it moved past itself?

“This type of action is against the backdrop of recent anti-immigration protests by a far right element within other parts of the Occupied Six Counties.

“It is fair to ask what’s coming down the line from ultra loyalist bigots? Or have these people now taken it upon themselves to administer another dose of Ulsterisation? Only this time against a much more vulnerable minority grouping.

“With all their sectarian baggage gathered when operating as a murderous, functional arm of the British state will loyalists now turn the dark arts of suppression and terror into race hate?

“Sinn Féin Poblachtach asks why has the Moygashel racist signage been removed but nearby UVF banners are ignored? Why does hate continue to be directed at the most vulnerable I society. Will this leave loyalism in uncharted waters? Or will the long arm of collusion suffice enough to curry favour after favour?

“Sinn Féin Poblachtach would like to acknowledge the anniversary of young Alan Kurdi whose death occurred on September 2, 2015. Alan was a two-year-old Syrian refugee boy whose body lay lifeless on a beach along the Mediterranean Sea. He would have been eleven year old today and quite possibly become one of the destitute seeking a better life.

“Sinn Féin Poblachtach makes no apologies for highlighting the struggles of the most vulnerable. As Irish Republicans ‘we will cherish all children of the nation equally’. Furthermore, we have walked in the same shoes of a minority grouping in a foreign land.”

PRO
Comhairle Uladh (Ulster Executive)
Sinn Féin Poblachtach
CRÍOCH/ENDS

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