Eastwood: Stop protocol rallies 
to cool tensions in communities

The Foyle MP said the vandalism of an Ulster Unionist poster with a noose placed inside an image of Doug Beattie should be a wake-up call for the DUP and TUV leaders regarding the protests.

Speaking at the launch of his party’s election campaign in west Belfast yesterday, Mr Eastwood said: “Of course you are entitled to protest – you’re not entitled to put a poster up with a noose around Doug Beattie’s neck.”

The SDLP leader said those responsible were not fit “to lace Doug Beattie’s boots, to be honest”.

Mr Eastwood expressed concern about the atmosphere surrounding the Assembly election campaign and highlighted the vandalism at Mr Beattie’s constituency office in Portadown last month as well as the intimidation of SDLP West Belfast candidate Paul Doherty on Belfast’s Shankill Road.

On the anti-protocol rallies, Mr Eastwood said: “I will call on the unionist leaders who are still going to these protests – protests that are I think, stirring up a lot of issues that don’t need to be stirred up in this community – I would say to them very clearly, you’re entitled to protest, but with protests, with entitlements and rights, come responsibilities.

“And I think any responsible leader would at this point say there’ll be no more protests, we’ll calm things down, we’ll go into a room and we’ll discuss how we deal with these issues.”

He added: “I think the lesson out of this is the only people that you can trust – and I say this to unionists’ leaders – the people that you can trust to work with you, the people you can trust to build a better society with you, are people like the people in this room, and your neighbours, because Boris Johnson is not going to be there when this election is over either.

“And some of the rabble rousers who are shouting at the back of lorries and winding young people up will not be there when this election is over either.”

He criticised the DUP and Sinn Fein for “failing to deliver for people in their time leading the Executive”.

Stressing the SDLP’s priority in this election was the cost-of-living crisis, Mr Eastwood continued: “At some point, we’re going to have to come back together and work the common ground, work together, get these institutions up and deal with the issues that really matter.

“Because whilst Jeffrey Donaldson was walking away, people’s bills were going through the roof, and I’m sick of knocking doors in places like Derry and people are answering their doors with their coats on. People can’t even afford to turn the heating on, and they’re worried about whether they can put food on the table.”

Among those attending the SDLP launch at the Culturlann centre on the Falls Road was former party MP Dr Joe Hendron who won the West Belfast seat from Gerry Adams in 1992.

Mr Beattie, meanwhile, said on Monday that he was disappointed that no one from the platform of the Lurgan anti-protocol rally challenged remarks that he was a “traitor”.

Sir Jeffrey and Mr Allister both condemned those behind putting a noose through a UUP poster at the protest although one of the organisers of the demonstration, the TUV’s Roy Ferguson, denounced Mr Beattie as a “Lundy” and a “traitor”.

In response,Mr Beattie said: “I am not a traitor, I am not a Lundy, I am the Ulster Unionist Party leader. I served my country and I am disappointed that he was not challenged in the words that he said.”

The UUP leader withdrew from anti-protocol rallies following a bomb alert at an event in north Belfast involving Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney just over a fortnight ago. Mr Beattie said at the time that he was concerned the demonstrations were raising community tensions.

On the rallies organised to oppose the post-Brexit trade deal that most unionists regard as decoupling Northern Ireland economically and constitutionally from the rest of the UK, Mr Beattie added: “I hope there is something to be learned by what happened on Friday, that people can see the dangers of moving in the wrong direction. I also have a concern that these rallies are not just about the protocol. They are turning into anti-Belfast Agreement rallies and I am not going to be associated with that.”