Jimbo Allister: announces that red and green customs lanes will no satisfy unionist unrest concerning the NI Protocol

Jim Allister: It is deluded to think that red and green customs lanes will neuter the Northern Ireland Protocol

         Thursday 26th May, 2022. 

Those, including government, who claim green and red customs lanes would remove the offence of the Northern Ireland Protocol are ignoring three critical realities.

Green and red customs lanes confirm in themselves that in moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland you are moving from one customs territory to another — the very essence of the sovereignty-busting Article 5 of the protocol

First, green and red customs lanes confirm in themselves that in moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland you are moving from one customs territory to another — the very essence of the sovereignty-busting Article 5 of the protocol.

One could imagine and understand their meaning if there were green and red lanes between England and an independent Scotland, which belonged to the EU, but never so long as Scotland is an integral part of the UK. Likewise, our constitutional integrity necessitates the repudiation of green and red customs lanes.

Their very ameliorations confirm the partitioning of the UK through a border in the Irish Sea.

Jim Allister QC, MLA is leader of Traditional Unionist Voice

The second reality that the green and red customs lane proposal ignores and does not address is the invasive Article 7 of the protocol.

Article 7 is that which applies a huge body of EU law — the EU acquis — directly and irreversibly to Northern Ireland, as articulated in Annex 2 of the protocol to the extent of 300 such EU laws which we can’t change but must implement as a colonised rule taker.

The undemocratic import of Article 7 is breathtaking.

We, a part of the United Kingdom which elects MPs and MLAs are governed in matters of trade and manufacturing of goods and standards by laws we don’t make and can’t change. How any democrat — unionist, nationalist or other — can acquiesce, nay support, such abject subjection to foreign dictatorship is beyond comprehension.

Thirdly, the unacceptable green and red customs lane proposal leaves untouched the monstrous impositions of Articles 8 and 10 of the protocol which retain Northern Ireland under the EU’s VAT regime and severe State Aid rules.

Once more, taxation without representation hallmarks this undemocratic excess, whereby we are governed not by UK rules and laws, but by foreign diktat.

So, anyone who thinks green and red customs lanes would neuter and deal with the protocol is seriously deluded and does not get the fundamental offence that must be removed — namely, a protocol which annexes us into foreign jurisdiction.

• Jimbo Allister QC MLA is TUV leader

With many thanks to the: News Letter and Jimbo Allister for the original publication.

Follow these links to find out more on this story and more information on the NI Protocol: THE Good Friday Agreement (GFA) will 'NEVER' be Renegotiated and UVF Intimidation will not Achieve the Removal of the Protocol

Westminster 'pushing disingenuous claim protocol is incompatible with the Good Friday Agreement'

UK must accept border on Irish Sea is inevitable, says ex-WTO chief.

The British Government's top law officer Attorney General Suella Braverman who advised Boris Johnson to rip up the NI Protocol

Reality matters very little to the DUP or Johnson

FOR an hour yesterday DUP assembly members whinged and whined about the protocol as if it had nothing to do with them. They were 'downtrodden people', ignored, put upon, cast aside.

Yet in the debate on the Queen's speech, Theresa May pointed out to Jeffrey Donaldson, who engaged in the same victimhood dirge in his Westminster remarks, that he had the chance twice to vote for her plan which would have avoided the protocol but voted against it. It was the DUP's intransigence in resisting a customs union that brought about the necessity for the protocol. 

    Former British Prime Minister Theresa       May reminding Jeffrey Donaldson and        the DUP they voted against her Bill            that would have prevented the NI                                   Protocol. 

Indeed, you will remember that, so desperate was Donaldson to have a hard British border on the Island of Ireland, that he told Radio 5 he "could live" with 40,000 job losses. So much for his concern about the damage to the north's economy he falsely claims (Factcheckni.org) the protocol is causing. Falsely, because the latest statistical evidence is that the north has outperformed more than any other UK region because of the protocol. 

    In Edwin Poots own words: "The DUP         campaigned against the GFA, and                        never signed up to it". 

Another false assertion DUP MLAs made repeatedly was that the whole basis of the Good Friday Agreement is based on consent and that therefore their consent is necessary for the protocol and that accordingly the GFA is damaged by the protocol. Boris Johnson, who, unsurprisingly, exhibits no knowledge of the GFA, also spouts this fallacious nonsense. 

The DUP with others have tried this argument up to the north's court of appeal (and lost) and it has been comprehensively rejected on several grounds. First, and most obviously, it is not for a regional assembly to give its consent to an international treaty, a matter categorically beyond Stormont's competence. 

    The electorate has spoken and have           fully endorsed their consent for the                                NI Protocol 

However, there is provision which the British government insisted on, for the assembly to give its consent in 2024 to the continuation of the protocol but that will be by simple majority. The only major matter where unionist consent is required is to consititional change in a border poll again by simple majority. In short, what the DUP is trying to do, as unionists have always done, is to twist and expand consent to constitutional change into consent to any change whatsoever. 

Naomi Long pointed out the hypocrisy of the DUP position of victimhood by reminding them that the people of the north and a majority of MLAs did not consent to Brexit, but nevertheless MLAs turned up to work at Stormont. What we now have is, "yet another blow to business and investor confidence" as the president of the *orthern Ireland Chamber of Commerce and Industry said after the failure to elect a Speaker. 

There is the inability to spend over £300 million sitting available, the inability to produce a three-year budget for health, the inability to address the growing cost of living crisis, all of which the DUP ignored yesterday. These dire consequences are all based on (DUP Lies) false arguments and concocted statistics rejected by the courts and demolished by economists. 

On top of that, woe, woe and thrice woe, we heard yesterday the ludicrous DUP claims to be the most opposed people ever. Even more disgraceful is the role of this dreadful, mendacious British government which has refused to operate the protocol and connived with the DUP in the dismantling of the GFA, simultaneously claiming the is inflexible and damaging the GFA - the reverse of the truth. 

As usual, because of its servile, peasant-like forelocking-tugging allegiance to the Conservatives, the DUP is in control of nothing. It is entirely up to Johnson how long and to what extent he will maintain his latest confrontation with the EU. What happens to the north and its waiting lists or its access to the single market doesn't matter in the least. 

As with everything else he does his sole consideration is how it will benefit Boris Johnson, in this instance earning the support of the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail for, altogether now, "standing up to Europe". Despicable. 

With many thanks to: The Irish News and Brian Feeney for the original publication.

Follow these links to find out more on this story and regarding the NI Protocol and the Conservative and Unionist Party (DUP): Former Secretary of State Julian Smith questions if Tory MPs are using the North of Ireland 'for other agendas' in Protocol row

NIESR have poured cold water on claims made by the Conservative and Unionist Party that the NI Protocol is damaging trade with the UK.

DUP the (un)Democratic Unionist Party threatens to shut down NI Assembly too amid Brexit Sea Border row

On Polling Day Let Them Know the Usual Scare Tactics Failed

          SEND A MESSAGE TO TOXIC                                     CAMPAIGNERS

BEING a "frontline politician" has a different connotation in this part of the word. It's getting to the point where politicians will need hard hats, fire extinguishers and mace when they go out canvassing for our votes. 

      A Vote for the TUV is a vote for hate,          sectarianism and anti-Catholicism. Jim is     quite happy to live in the past he doesn't        wish to move forward and is using this         election to spread his hatred for change. 

SDLP MP Claire Hanna is right when she says the current election campaign has become toxic. Of course toxic campaigns are something we have become very used to here, but there is a noticeable undercurrent this time around.

In the past, politicians ran the gauntlet of paramilitary attacks. Famously, Gerry Fitt pulled a gun on raiders, who forced their way into his home, but that was in 1976 - a different world. Ulster Unionist MP Robert Bradford was murdered, the UVF shot and killed Sinn Féin's Sheena Campbell, other politicians such as Nigel (deputy Dog) Dodds and Alex Maskey survived murder bids.

     A Vote for the PUP is saying that you            agree  with the recent loyalist violence            carried out and orchestrated by UVF           terrorism during the anti-Protocol/anti-               Good-Friday-Agreement rallies. 

But this is different and clearly driven by paramilitary elements within the (PUL) loyalist community, most notably the ceasefire UVF.

It's a disturbing and blunt instrument campaign to intimidate those who don't share their view. It shows a lack of confidence in their own identity, their own ability to make their case and sell it to others. But rather than talk, loyalists circle the wagons and chuck stones at those on the outside.

In the greater scheme of things the theft of election posters isn't exactly the crime of the century, but what we're seeing aren't random acts of vandalism, it's an attempt to exclude an alternative view, a sort of book burning - what you don't know can't change your mind.

It's not a new tactic. In almost every election campaign since the inception of the state, hardline unionists and loyalists have reduced the fight to a single-issue campaign and they're doing it again, and it's the same weapons of choice - sectarianism and fear.

At the centre of it is the myth that the Brexit Sea Border threatens the North's constitutional position. Whatever Jeffrey Donaldson or Jim Allister say, anti-Protocol protests are fanning the flames. How else can you explain the disturbing and quite frankly chilling image of Doug Beattie with a noose around his neck?

The two young thugs caught in the act of taking down SDLP candidate Elsie Trainor's posters in south Belfast had their orders - take Elsie out of the fight, cancel her, make her disappear. Her bravery in chasing them down and filming them earned her a slap in the face and verbal abuse by calling her a "republican bastard".

In refusing to be intimidated, Elsie struck her own blow. She won't be pushed around and I hope the voters show a little of the same courage come polling day.

With many thanks to the: Sunday World and Richard Sullivan for the original opinion piece published in the Sunday World newspaper.

Follow this link to find out more on this story: NI election 2022: 41 poster incidents reported to the PSNI/RUC but how many reports were from the DUP, TUV and PUP?

This may be the last hurrah for anti-agreement unionism

"I BELIEVE that you will inspire people with hope far better than fear. We need more optimism not pessimism and that is how we will secure the long-term future of the Union." (Doug Beattie)

      CHANGING DYNAMICS: The crowds          attending the anti-protocol rallies have not          been huge, but nor have they been                        insignificant. PICTURE: PA

"The election is a wake-up call for those who support the Union. This is not the time to have unionism fractured and weakened. It is not the time for fellow unionists to have a go at one another and it is not the time to take a chance on those who are not tried and tested." (Jeffrey Donaldson) 

"We are clear and providing a rock-solid guarantee that we will never provide a stooge deputy to a Sinn Féin First Minister. TUV would unapologetically block Michelle O’Neill. If unionists want to be certain that their vote will never be used to enthrone Sinn Féin [voting] "TUV1 is their only guarantee." (Jim Allister)

"Every domocratic means available should be deployed to see the Protocol consigned to history and there should be no return to Stormont whilst the protocol-related issues remain unresolved." (Grand Orange Lodge)

"The blunt reality is, I don't know why any unionist has been running scared of a border poll - we've absolutely nothing to fear. I would have challenged Sinn Féin to one tomorrow if it was in my gift." (David Campbell, chair of the Loyalist Communities Council)

Well, there you go: pick the bones out of that lot. Which is precisely what unionist voters will have to do between and May 5th.

Them'UN's - Them And Us Approach - No Sinn Féin First Minister (Myself) 

 

Do they opt for Doug Beattie's approach and allow hope to trump fear, or do they steer towards the DUP's line that the union is in danger and only they can protect it? Or do they go a lot further - which is what the TUV seems to be suggesting - and make sure that, in the event Sinn Féin does emerge as the largest party, there's no chance at all of a rebooted executive?

   

                    PRODUCT FEAR

The TUV reckons that the DUP and UUP would reach agreement with Sinn Féin a few months down the line

The TUV reckons - probably with some justification - that the DUP and UUP would reach agreement with Sinn Féin a few months down the line, even if that required serving as deputy first minister to Michelle O’Neill against a background in which there had a 'soft landing' resolution to the protocol. That's why, just a few days after he shared a platform with him, Jim Allister was having a pop at Jeffrey Donaldson for not ruling anything in or out when asked, on Talkback, if he would confirm that his party wouldn't serve under Michelle O’Neill. It's also why Doug Beattie was accused, on the same platform, of being a 'Lundy' and a 'traitor'.

 TOGETHER WE STAND DIVIDED WE FALL

And it's why the unionist parties still supporting the anti-protocol rallies - the DUP, TUV and PUP - have found it impossible to issue a joint statement/declaration/strategy setting out what they will do once the election is over and the results are in. If the DUP is returned as the largest unionist party and represents an overall majority of unionist MLAs, then expect to see it move closer to the UUP (assuming it hasn't had a catastrophic result) to try and keep the assembly afloat. 

Deep down Jim Allister knows that the DUP/UUP don't share his deep-rotted antipathy to the Belfast Agreement and mandatory coalition. He has seen them work the institutions and he knows they enjoy sort of balance-of-power numbers required to influence their decisions during and after negotiations he also knows that this really is the last personal hurrah. Maybe even the last hurrah for anti-agreement/anti-assembly unionism. 

The protocol changed the dynamics across and within unionism and loyalism, particularly with the intervention of new grassroots coalitions set up and directed by a younger generation of loyalists (who I first mentioned about three years ago). The crowds attending the rallies haven't been huge, but nor have they been insignificant. That said, they have been as much anti-Good-Friday-Agreement as anti-Protocol crowds and mostly tending towards Jim Allister's worldview than Jeffrey Donaldson's or Doug Beattie's. 

So, Beattie (who dropped out because he thinks the UUP's core vote isn't comfortable with aspects of the rallies) and Donaldson (who stays in because he worries that Allister's message might appeal to some sections of the DUP) will still be hoping that, while the rallies attract attention - albeit for the wrong reasons, sometimes - the TUV/loyalist coalition perspective won't attract a critical mass of unionist votes. Both men know that the protocol has unsettled huge swathes of the unionist/pro-union communities (it unsettles me), but they reckon that the unsettling doesn't and won't translate into a significant wave of votes to the TUV. 

And what about those organising the rallies - at which Allister and Donaldson, along with others, are just guest speakers? I'm presuming they agree with what Jamie Bryson describes as an increasing the pressure approach to unionism's problems. I'm also presuming that, having raised their voice and made their mark, they won't be packing their bags and moving off once the election is over: irrespective of the final results. 

With many thanks to: The Irish News and Alex Kane for the original publication. 

Follow these links to find out more on this story and other subjects relevant to the opinion above: DON'T LET EVERYTHING JEFFERY AND THE DUP TELL YOU ABOUT THE BREXIT SEA BORDER AND THE PROTOCOL AND TAKE IT AS GOSPEL!

CHOOSE YOUR UNIONIST PARTY WISELY - FORWARDS WITH BEATTIE AND THE UUP OR BACKWARDS WITH BRYSON, DONALDSON AND ALLISTER - HOW WILL YOU VOTE ON 5TH MAY?

THE Good Friday Agreement (GFA) will 'NEVER' be Renegotiated and UVF Intimidation will not Achieve the Removal of the Protocol

 NOLAN'S TOP TABLE SHOW AXED

DON'T LET EVERYTHING JEFFERY AND THE DUP TELL YOU ABOUT THE BREXIT SEA BORDER AND THE PROTOCOL AND TAKE IT AS GOSPEL!

UNIONISTS opposed to the *orthern Ireland Protocol have declared it the most important issue facing their supporters in the Stormont Assembly election next month. Thousands of unionists and loyalists have taken part in anti-Protocol rallies in recent months. 

  Loyalism marching against the Brexit Sea          Border and threatening the Dublin                     government over the Protocol. 

            Wednesday 13th Apr, 2022. 

DUP leader MP Jeffrey Donaldson has said showing opposition is a priority, and that his party will refuse to go back into power-sharing with Sinn Féin unless the issue is resolved. 

Jim Allister, leader and sole elected voice and Assembly representative of the Hardline Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV), is a strident critic of the protocol who's hoping the issue will him more votes and additional seats on 5th May. 

Ulster Unionist leader Doug Beattie also opposes the protocol, but has taken a less combative approach and has said his party will not attend any more rallies as they are causing community tensions and provoking civil unrest. 

Unionist leaders have likened the post Brexit arrangements to a border down the Irish Sea which weakens and undermines *orthern Ireland’s position within the United Kingdom. 

     But what do unionists voters think?

I went along to Ballymena, the former stronghold of DUP founder Ian Paisley, to test their claim that opposition to the protocol is the most important issue facing unionist voters this time around. 

The town is set in the heart of *orthern Ireland so-called bible belt and is one of the most solidly unionist constituencies. 

Jim Allister was one of the 5 Assembly members elected to represent the constituency in the last election in 2017, with two DUP and one Ulster Unionist. 

      I spoke only to declared unionist                                      supporters

First up was Maurice Mills, who described his age as 50 plus VAT. 

"The protocol to me is all important because I believe that the future of our province is at stake as far as *orthern Ireland being an integral part of the United Kingdom is concerned," he said. 

Asked whether the protocol, health service or the cost of living crisis would be the most important issue for him in the election on 5th May, he was clear: " We need a secure country, that's the first thing. The protocol endangers *orthern Ireland’s position, seriously endangers it, and I believe that the people of this province need to be awake to that fact."

Next up was Noel, who has taken part in a number of anti-protocol rallies and also says it needs to be removed. 

"Because it seems to be cutting us off from the rest (of the United Kingdom), Scotland, Wales and England," he said. 

"We seem to be cut off you know, like pushed out to the sea a wee bit like an Island, I know we are an Island, but you know, on our own, it just doesn't seem right."

But his priorities were different when asked which of the same three issues he views as most important in the election. 

"Well I think the health, health is important to everybody, it doesn't matter who you vote for or who you don't vote for, so you know it would be more or less the health, then the protocol."

Next up were a couple who declared themselves as unionist voters, but didn't want to be interviewed when told the subject matter. 

As they left, the husband made his position clear. 

"Don't get us started on the bloody protocol," he said. "We're embarrassed about the whole thing and want nothing to do with it." 

Jean was next. A declared DUP supporter, she said the protocol is not a concern. 

"It doesn't bother me," she said. 

Asked which of the issues was most important, she also said health. 

"I have a granddaughter and she's a nurse and she just says it's beyond doing anything, it's just so bad. She says she hates going into her work because nobody there, there's no nurses there, nobody to help you." 

Danielle agreed. 

"The fact is, if you don't have health you can't live, so I would say health."

Husband and wife Bill and Jenny were on the same page. 

Asked how important an issue the protocol was for him, Bill replied: "Really not very important because I feel that it's not within the province of the *orthern Ireland Assembly to do anything about it. It's Boris Johnson and his crowd across the water I think who have the say. 

"Health is the most important thing."

While Jenny said that as a gardener the protocol has caused her problems because some items are not available, she shared the view that health is the number one issue. 

The survey was not intended to be scientific, but a snapshot of unionist opinion in a staunchly unionist town. 

The last up was local businesswoman Elaine, who moved back to to *orthern Ireland 12 years ago from Scotland. 

"Health" she replied when asked to name the most important issue for her. 

"Our NHS is in a shocking state, our doctors and nurses are burnt out. We can't treat people with cancer and other life threatening conditions, so health. Health's been important to me since I moved back here 12 years ago, the cost of living because everybody's suffering. 

"The protocol has affected the cost of living and Brexit has affected the cost of living and that affects our health service at the same time, so they've all a knock on effect on each other at the moment, but if you don't have your health you've nothing."

DUP leader MP Jeffrey Donaldson was in the Co Down town of Bangor this morning to launch his party's plan to 'Fix the NHS', stating that radical reform is needed. 

Afterwards he went on a walkabout in the town's market, where the protocol was on the menu when a number of stall holders raised the issue. 

"Our transport costs went up another 28% there just two weeks ago as well as all the extra costs for paperwork and stuff," said fishmonger David Cully. 

When asked to respond to the fact that all but one of the people I spoke to in the unionist heartland of Ballymena had said that the protocol is not the priority, Mr Donaldson said his experience is different and that the issue is intrinsically linked to health and the cost of living as it impacts both. 

"My personal opinion: Never Trust the DUP and the DUP are good at telling lies" but that's only my opinion. 

"I don't agree," he said.  "I've been out in every constituency in recent weeks. I've been knocking doors with our candidates and the protocol comes up regularly. 

"People are very concerned what it means for the future of *orthern Ireland, for our political and economic stability. 

"I've been going around the market this morning here in Bangor and I've been hearing from a lot of the stall holders about the problems they're having in bringing produce in from Great Britain, part of the United Kingdom. 

"Root vegetables, seed potatoes, fish products, and you know the added costs from the paperwork, that gets passed on to the consumer. 

"People I'm speaking to are really concerned about the cost of living and they recognise that the protocol is contributing to the increase in the cost of living in *orthern Ireland," Mr Donaldson said. 

With many thanks to: RTÉ News  and

Vincent Kearney  the Northern Editor for the original publication. 

Follow these links to to find out more on this story: THE Good Friday Agreement (GFA) will 'NEVER' be Renegotiated and UVF Intimidation will not Achieve the Removal of the Protocol

CHOOSE YOUR UNIONIST PARTY WISELY - FORWARDS WITH BEATTIE AND THE UUP OR BACKWARDS WITH BRYSON, DONALDSON AND ALLISTER - HOW WILL YOU VOTE ON 5TH MAY?

Donaldson tells News Litter: I would stay if a United Ireland ever happened - 400 years of our blood is in Ulster's soil.

THE END IS NIGH FOR *ORTHERN IRELAND AS WE KNOW IT- AND UNIONISTS CAN BLAME THEMSELVES.

How big an issue is the NI Protocol to Unionist voters?

CHOOSE YOUR UNIONIST PARTY WISELY - FORWARDS WITH BEATTIE AND THE UUP OR BACKWARDS WITH BRYSON, DONALDSON AND ALLISTER - HOW WILL YOU VOTE ON 5TH MAY?

  DOUG BEATTIE SEEKS MEETING WITH            LURGAN PROTOCOL PROTEST                                   ORGANISERS. 

Doug Beattie seeks meeting with Lurgan Protocol Protest organisers 

Ulster Unionist leader Doug Beattie has requested a meeting with the organisers of an anti-Protocol rally in Lurgan after they accused the Upper Bann MLA of an "egregious slur" upon protest organisers and supporters. 

Lurgan United Unionists protesting against the Brexit-Sea-Border in Lurgan at an anti.             Protocol rally on Friday evening. 

IN A statement posted on Facebook, the Lurgan United Unionists said Mr Beattie was wrong to label those involved in the various recent rallies as "rabble-rouses". 

UUP leader Doug Beattie accused the anti    Protocol protesters of harnessing anger                      and increasing tensions. 

Wednesday 30th March, 2022. 

The loyalist grouping - comprising of members from all of the main loyal orders and several bands - has organised a protest against the post-Brexit trading arrangements in Lurgan on April 8th. 

The social media statement says: "Mr Beattie cites as a reason for his withdrawal from anti-Protocol rallies his belief that they are harnessing anger and increasing tensions. 

       DOUG WAS RIGHT - By Chris Hazz                                posted on Twitter

"To suggest that the ptotest rallies are anything other than a peaceful and dignified expression of loyalist opposition to the Protocol is an egregious slur upon those who have organised, attended, and addressed such events."

In response, a UUP spokesman told the News Litter that "rising tensions" and "some of the rhetoric" associated with the rallies has led to Mr Beattie's decision not to attend. 

"The Ulster Unionist Party absolutely respects the right of anyone to protest in a lawful and peaceful manner," the spokesman said. 

"The party leader has written to the Lurgan United Unionists to ask them to meet with him to discuss their concerns. 

"Amidst rising tensions and in light of some of the rhetoric that have been been used, we will no longer be participating in anti-Protocol rallies."

The party spokesman added: "Contrary to some of the wild and inaccurate claims made in the statement, we remain resolute in our opposition to a border in the Irish Sea. 

      The smashed window at UUP's leaders       constituency offices in Portadown raising             tensions over the Irish Sea Border. 

"Given what happened to the party leader’s office in Portadown (window damaged), we do not wish to be part of raising tensions in the community. Calm heads are needed now. 

   ANTI-PROTOCOL RALLY: WE WANT AN   APPOLIGY FROM DOUG BEATTIE - NOT A                               MEETING. 

The organisers of an anti-Protocol protest in Lurgan say they have no intention of holding private talks with Doug Beattie after the UUP leader pulled out of speaking at the event. 

     Roy Ferguson (above) one of the main        organisers and leading member of Lurgan    United Unionists' insulating and attacking       UUP leader Doug Beattie at the anti-            Protocol rally in Lurgan on Friday evening. 

THE LURGAN United Unionists' spokesmen also said the wider unionist community "awaits a clear and public apology" from Mr Beattie - claiming his stated concerns about the mass rallies were an  "egregious slur" against 'law-abiding citizens.'

     On the platform were DUP MP Jeffrey          Donaldson, TUV leader Jim Allister and      loyalist activist pound shop lawyer Jamie                                  Bryson. 

The protest rally took place in Lurgan on April 8th. On the platform were DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson, TUV leader Jim Allister and loyalist activist pound shop lawyer Jamie Bryson. 

Thursday 31st March, 2022. 

At the weekend, Mr Beattie said UUP representatives would no longer take part in the rallies as some were beginning to "raise the political temperature" to dangerous levels across *orthern Ireland. 

An amended version of the anti-Protocol rally poster has appeared on the Facebook page of the Lurgan United Unionists "We want to see the Protocol replaced (which is never going to happen - although it can be amended) and we have been expressing our consistent opposition to it since it was first mooted in October 2019, but where I differ with others is the way in which we approach that. I am a confident, positive unionist representing a party which will engage to bring about change. It is a political problem which will only be solved by finding a political solution," he said. 

"We respect the right of anyone to legally and peacefully protest. However, tensions are rising, with some spokespeople at anti-Protocol rallies are openly calling for people to get angry and to raise the temperature. 

  DUP MP calls for 'guerrilla warfare' on the         streets against the *orthern Ireland                                      Protocol. 

Blood and thunder rhetoric from a lectern will not help or solve the Protocol problem. This is exactly what we need to avoid. We need to learn the lessons of the past."

Mr Beattie did issue an invitation to meet privately with the organisers, however, that offer was firmly rejected in a statement issued by the the Lurgan United Unionists on Thursday. 

They said: "Mr Beattie, having turned down the offer to publicly unite with the wider unionist community, it would be both inappropriate and unnecessary for Lurgan United Unionists to engage in a private forum with Mr Beattie. 

"Indeed we would challenge Mr Beattie, if he wants to see the destruction of the Protocol and he is prepared to stand publicly with us and the wider unionist community? 

"The suspicion must surely be that such an image is not one Mr Beattie feels will play well with those whom he seeks to court in Alliance and the SDLP. Be that as it may, Mr Beattie has clearly indicated he does not wish to join the United Unionist Front opposing the Protocol. 

Video of Roy Ferguson insulting UUP leader Doug Beattie

"It would also be remiss of us not to remind Mr Beattie that the wider Unionist community awaits a clear and public apology following his recent comments suggesting that protest rallies were harnessing anger and that those who organised, attended and addressed such were somehow guilty of increasing community tensions and inciting violence. 

"Whether intentional or not Mr Beattie has besmirched and blackened the name of all loyal, law abiding Ulstermen who have peacefully protested against the Protocol as well as organisations such as the Loyal Orders established upon biblical and Christian principles." 

     The Brexit Sea Border the one the DUP       claimed wasn't their fault but all the other    parties in *orthern Ireland were to blame... 

The statement goes on to say: "After 24 years of a process of appeasement and humiliation designed to bleed unionism to death, the imposition of the Protocol and the consequent constitutional change to *orthern Ireland's place within the Union, 

      The Good Friday Agreement was An          International Agreement signed by World      leaders and will 'NEVER' be renegotiated. 

The loyalist people of Ulster can take no more -more than enough has been stripped from us over the years, if we do not stand now in defence of our culture, our heritage and our way of life we will bear the shame of being the generation who failed Ulster."

The statement is signed: 

Roy Ferguson (above bottom) - President, Apprentice Boys of Derry. 

David Martin (above top) - District Master, Lurgan District No.6. 

  TUV leader Jim Allister along with Mr Roy   Ferguson who is standing in the upcoming                    elections on 5th May. 

Follow this link on the 1996 loyalist picket: Loyalists picket Harryville Catholic Church in Ballymena 1996

Mr Roy Ferguson was (standing in the Elections on 5th May) before becoming President of the Apprentice Boys was an Independent Orange officer who was highly involved in the controversial picketing of Harryville Roman Catholic Church in Ballymena. Which in the end had to close its doors forever... 

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with many thanks to the: News Letter and Mark Rainey for the original publication 

Follow these links to to find out more on this story: 

Doug Beattie seeks meeting with Lurgan Protocol Protest organisers

Anti-protocol rally: we want an appoligy from Doug Beattie - not a meeting