Feile an Phobail fallout continues: Major motor dealer Agnew Group suspends worker over West Belfast Festival posting

The Agnew Group, a dealership which sells everything from Mercedes to Smart cars at over a dozen showrooms, issued a statement stressing its “inclusive” credentials and condemning sectarianism.

It relates to a social media post from the festival, although the firm would not confirm what specifically its contents were, or any details of the individual involved (some reports suggest that the suspension relates to republican chanting).

Here is what the company said: “The Agnew Group is an inclusive organisation employing people from all sections of the local community.

“We do not condone any behaviour of a sectarian or discriminatory nature and this content on social media does not reflect our company or our values.

“The individual concerned has been suspended pending further investigation.”

The case has echoes of another recent news story, involving loyalists who were caught on video singing a song mocking the death of Catholic murder victim Michaela McAreavey.

In the resulting furore, a couple of the men identified in the video were sacked (with Jamie Bryson later offering assistance to the fired employees, whom he said were merely present in the video, not singing – and as such they intend to launch tribunal proceedings).

The West Belfast Festival – also known as Feile an Phobail – was founded in 1988 by, among others, former republican prisoner and Sinn Fein PR man Danny Morrison.

He said it was intended “to raise the morale of people who were demonised by both government and mainstream political parties and called savages”.

He described its ethos as being “very progressive, left-wing, anti-imperialist, anti-colonialist, pro-gay”.

In recent years it has been a common occurrence for attendees or acts themselves to make the news as a result of pro-IRA and / or anti-unionist behaviour.

For example this year, just as they had done in the past, rebel band The Wolfe Tones led the crowd in Falls public park on Sunday night in a chant of “up the Ra”.

The group has been singing IRA ballads for decades, but also drawing criticism this year was much younger group called Kneecap.

It is comprised of two rappers, plus a DJ with the stage name Provai who wears a tricolour balaclava.

Among the merchandise sold by the trio is a jumper featuring a burning PSNI van with the caption “RUC not welcome,” and a mural of this was unveiled shortly before their Feile performance on Friday to a cry of “get your Brits out!”

In response, the group this week challenged claims that it was promoting “sectarian hatred” by posting a video of a previous interview they had done with Vice magazine.

In it, they called for “uniting the working class,” condemned green-and-orange “identity politics,” and expressed hope for “people in the Shankill gaining from a united Ireland”.

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