Campaigner criticises inconsistent action by police over displays of ‘hate’ across Northern Ireland
A campaigner for Troubles victims has criticised how inconsistent the police and government are about cracking down on displays of “hate”.
Kenny Donaldson made the comments after the PSNI stepped in to remove anti-immigration placards from an estate on the northern edge of Belfast, saying they constitute a “hate crime”.
Mr Donaldson noted that countless displays of honouring registered terrorist organisations go completely unchallenged by the authorities, and said such displays are “an open wound” for those who were hurt or bereaved by those groups.
The signs which the police have now removed were put up on lampposts in Rathcoole estate, and warned against anybody “facilitating” the arrival of “Muslims” or “illegals” into the community.
The police further said that it had removed them despite it being the responsibility of the Department for Infrastructure.
Mr Donaldson of the South East Fermanagh Foundation (SEFF) has repeatedly condemned republican and loyalist terror displays across Northern Ireland in the past.
Tonight he told the News Letter today: “Let us be very clear from the outset; the public display of the propaganda of hate has no place within this society, and we like a majority of others do not support the targeting of communities or individuals on the basis of their deemed ethnic or religious background, or indeed any other characteristic denoting diversity.
"It was indeed right and proper that this material was removed, and whether that's the role solely of the police, or a partnership role, is in some ways the secondary point.
"The issue is that the material cannot and should not be permitted to stay.
"What this whole episode does bring to the fore however is the lack of consistency of approach from police and other government agencies concerning the activities of terror groups who are proscribed organisations.
"On gable walls, on lampposts, on public buildings and land, on the sides of country roads there continues to be the vestiges of terrorism – groupings who continue to operate at varying levels.
"For our constituency, this remains an open wound, there has been no will displayed to remove illegal terror memorials, graffiti, illegal flags, menacing murals and so much more.
"These representations of hate based on ethnic and/or sectarian lines remain unchecked and that is wholly unacceptable.
"Hate manifested through the mistreatment of people on the basis of their 'deemed difference' from others is unacceptable, and we want to see the Stormont Executive get its act together and deal with these matters once and for all.
"The Terrorism Act is not being operated within its spirit by the law currently.”