Chants of ‘SS RUC’ at Israel-Palestine protest ‘are disturbing’ says DUP peer Lord Weir

DUP man Lord Weir was reacting to the scenes at Queen’s University Belfast on Thursday when protestors were arrested as they staged a demonstration against the presence on campus of Hilary Clinton, the university’s chancellor (a largely ceremonial role), because of her backing for Israel.

The police said four men were arrested amid "disorder”. Three were charged.

Aged 20, one was charged with resisting police. Another, 18, was charged with resisting and obstructing police, while a third, 21, was charged with obstructing police, resisting police, and assault on police.

The PSNI said: “What was experienced yesterday cannot be described as peaceful in nature… A number of our officers were injured and this is unacceptable and without justification.”

A video shared online by the party People Before Profit showed that after the arrests were made, chants of “SS RUC” could be heard from protestors.

Lord Weir, the former Stormont education minister, is a graduate of Queen’s, and served as chairman of its UUP branch in his student days (as well as chairman of the NI-wide umbrella group the Young Unionists).

He told the News Letter that the RUC, which was disbanded 23 years ago, "had a great track record", and that such chanting “would've been said by republicans 30-odd years ago".

He said: “I think the chants show both the level of ignorance and a disturbing attitude from some of those involved in the protest. It shows their motivations go beyond simply what is happening in the Middle East. Maybe some reflect an extremist view, echoing the past...

"It is a very lazy and I think dangerous trope for anybody to be comparing any police force with the SS.

"Apart from anything else that's deeply insulting as well, both to police and also deeply insulting to people who were genuine victims of the SS.

"[If you're] having a go at the state of Israel then comparing some of those on the ground to the SS, given the appalling crimes against humanity committed by the SS, particularly towards Jews across Europe, I think is a pretty dreadful thing to be said.”

The students who were charged have since complained to the Police Ombudsman.

The firm Phoenix Law says “all three deny the charges and have raised concerns about the lawfulness of the police actions”.

The firm called the PSNI actions “one of the greatest infringements upon the right to protest in recent times”.