Victims of terror will be 'repulsed' by sight of gunmen at coffin of former Ulster University academic Dr Terry Robson who provided intellectual basis for INLA's political wing

Derek Hussey was commenting on the send-off for Dr Terry Robson, a former academic at the University of Ulster’s Magee campus and a member of the IRSP – the INLA’s political offshoot.

It is believed the shots were fired over his coffin in Londonderry on Friday, and his funeral was held the next day.​

Alderman Hussey, a UUP member of Derry City and Strabane District Council, told the News Letter: "Hearing of such actions in this day and age when many folks are desirous of moving beyond this type of behaviour is extremely concerning.

"Many who will have suffered from terrorist violence from whatever source in the past will be totally repulsed by this."

UUP group leader Darren Guy echoed this, calling the display “a disgrace… there's no need for it in this day's society".

A relatively unknown figure outside IRSP circles, Robson had been present along with paramilitary Seamus Costello when the IRSP was founded in December 1974.

The IRSP in Londonderry described him last week as a “comrade” who had authored documents which provide the intellectual underpinning for the group’s thought to this day.

A blog called The Plough, which describes itself as a newsletter of the IRSP, posted the following comments from him in 2010: ”Socialists should have no illusions in the police. They are the first line of the repressive arm of the state.

“This state is, to paraphrase Marx, a committee for managing the common affairs of the middle class. One of these 'common affairs' is the problem of managing the working class and ensuring it is never in a position to threaten private property and the means of production - the basis of class power in all capitalist societies...

"New policing structures need to be built which separate policing from the state.

"The PSNI man of 2010 who kicks in the door of a republican to search his or her home and take them to Antrim holding centre and then to Maghaberry is no different from the RUC man of 1971 who kicked in the door of a republican to take them to Castlereagh and Long Kesh.

"At its base, the North continues to be a sectarian state which must be dismantled with all of its institutions rebuilt in the interests of the working class.”