‘Snap’ protest at DUP office over Irish language comments by Arlene Foster

YOUNG REPUBLICANS dressed as crocodiles staged protests outside DUP offices in Belfast on Tuesday morning in protest at Arlene Foster’s comments about the Irish language.

Four young republicans from Sinn Féin Republican Youth staged a protest outside the office of the DUP’s Nelson McCausland – a trenchant critic of the Irish language – in north Belfast.

The four ‘crocodiles’ held up signs reading “Acht na Gaeilge Anois”.

On Monday, the DUP leader restated her party’s outright opposition to an Irish Language Act and compared Sinn Féin’s demand for an act to a hungry crocodile that should not be fed.

The use of the term backfired on Arlene Foster as Irish-language activists and others immediately seized the term and used it widely on social media.

Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams TD also turned the phrase back on the DUP when asked for his reaction by joking to reporters: “See you later, alligator.”

Wednesday court protest

Irish-language activists will stage a protest outside Belfast High Court on Wednesday at 10:30am in support of a court case calling for the implementation of an Irish language strategy in the North.