Editorial: There is plenty of existing hate material for the PSNI to remove before racist posters

​Intimidatory posters and graffiti against immigrants in Northern Ireland are outrageous.

​Insulting and racist messages are bad enough, but actually to threaten newcomers to our society or those who help them is unpardonable.

It is not a legitimate expression of free speech, but incitement – which, incidentally, has been specifically illegal since long before some of the more recent, excessive attempts to outlaw speech that is merely rude, rather than dangerous.

The desire to remove such messages is wholly understandable, indeed laudable. But is it a priority for the PSNI, and should it even be a role for the police?

The police have complained about officer numbers. This newspaper is a strong defender of robust and well staffed policing, as well as increased prison provision. We support calls for more police officers on the beat, to make society safer.

This society was plagued for 30 years by terrorist violence, of whom republican groups carried out by far the most killings. Loyalists also murdered more than 1,000 people, typically nakedly sectarian killings.

Many older paramilitaries were allowed to retire into gangsterism and profiteering. How lucky they are not to have been the targets of asset recovery operations.

Terror groups still promote their hatred in various ways: flags, slogans, chants, celebrations and so on. They are allowed to behave in ways that others are not, such as the mass covid breach and terror display for the funeral of the IRA godfather Storey – facilitated by a force that was fining elderly people for minor pandemic breaches.

Messages of hate against immigrants are despicable. But on what basis is the overstretched police taking time to remove them over the open terror displays, with all their hatred, intimidation and celebrations of violence, which cause such distress to the large numbers of victims of the long terror years?