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21 July 2016

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PSNI inaction on Billy Wright sectarian hate crime banner raised by Relatives for Justice

● DUP MP Willie McCrea with Billy Wright

A BANNER erected next to a loyalist bonfire in Dungannon by the Loyalist Volunteer Force in a tribute to slain leader Billy Wright and described by Relatives for Justice as a “sectarian hate crime” designed to provoke nationalists has been replaced by the LVF.

LVF banner Cappagh 2016

The original banner carried the words “In proud memory of Brigadier Billy Wright” and a quote from him, saying, “I would look back and say Cappagh was probably my best” – a reference to a gun attack on Boyle’s Bar in Cappagh in 1991 in which four people were killed, three of them IRA Volunteers.

Anger was increased at this sectarian provocation when a senior PSNI explained that the police refused to intervene because although some people would find it offensive, others would not.

Sinn Féin and the SDLP have formally complained over the PSNI position.

Mid Ulster Sinn Féin MLA Linda Dillon said the erection of the banner mocking the deaths of four local men had caused concern in the local community.

The banner has now been replaced with one carrying an image of Wright at Drumcree and a quote from him defying death threats to the renegade ex-UVF leader by other unionist death squads.

RFJ Cappagh killings report

Relatives for Justice Director Mark Thompson described the original banner as a “deliberately aggravated act of hostility motivated only by sectarian hatred”.

It is also an attempt to fuel sectarian tensions within the area more generally, he said.

“It is provocative in the extreme. It is a hate crime that further victimises the bereaved families and survivors, one of whom was shot and seriously injured.

“The erecting of the banner constitutes a clear case of sectarian hate crime under the current definitions, breaching several major tests as laid out by the Public Prosecution Service (PPS).

“The erection of this banner is motivated by sectarianism, prejudice, hate, hostility, bigoted dislike, and manifests in abusive and insulting words and behaviour; the key tests as laid out by the PPS.

“Further the PSNI has publicly stated that whilst some people may find it offensive others will not and therefore they have a sensitive balancing act of competing rights.

“This PSNI statement is an appalling admission from a police service that claims to uphold and apply the rule of law impartially. It is clear that this is not the case at all in this instance.

“To say that there are competing rights in such a situation is as odious as the banner itself. The PSNI have now added further insult to an already grievous harm.

“This too is an attempt by the PSNI to deliberately diminish the grief of these four families. One can only ask for what motivation? Is it because three of the dead were IRA Volunteers?”

The Relatives for Justice Director added:

“Many right-thinking people will be horrified at the disgraceful stance taken in the face of what is clearly an act of sectarian hate and hostility.

“To promote the notion that some will not find the poster insulting is to completely abdicate the understanding of sectarian hate crime, remove this matter from the realm of hate crime and to try and render the victims powerless under law.

“Many will therefore view this as a deliberate political act by the PSNI.

“The PSNI have displayed clear and open bias and prejudice in this instance when compared to other incidents where the law has been fully and correctly applied when sectarian and other hate crime has occurred against other sections of the community.

“The question now is why did the PSNI determine and adopt such inexcusable responses to such an appalling act of gross sectarian hatred?

“The widely held view is that the PSNI has acted partially and politically and has failed to act according to the law.”

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