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.
"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.
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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