Roy Beggs MLA has spoken in the Assembly of his unequivocal condemnation of the attack on Stewart Dickson MLA’s Carrickfergus Office and the attacks and threats against a number of politicians.
Speaking from Stormont, Roy Beggs said,
“I support the right of peaceful protest in a democratic society. However, care must be taken that any legal protest is not used as cover for others with another, violent agenda – as evidenced by those who attacked the Alliance Party offices of Stewart Dickson MLA.
Attacks on people and property are totally unjustifiable. The use of violence and intimidation are criminal acts. They are detracting from the issue of securing our British identity. British citizens from elsewhere will be horrified to see masked men wrapped in Union Jacks being involved in violence and attacking and injuring police officers.”
The UUP MLA has also spoken about the issue of flags and emblems. Roy Beggs MLA said:
“The way to combat the political agenda of republicans- who are clearly attempting to strip Northern Ireland of all its vestiges of Britishness -is to expose their bigotry and to out vote them. Sinn Fein have supported naming a play park after an IRA terrorist who was linked to a gun used at the sectarian Kingsmills massacre. Yet locally they cry ‘inequality’ over the Crown centerpiece to the Circular Road roundabout, in Larne. What hypocrisy.
It is a fact that the electoral turnout in areas likes Carrickfergus, Larne and Newtownabbey, which would in theory be strongly Unionist, have fallen to less that 35% turnout in recent years. It is the task of all democrats and democratic parties, not least my own, to engage with the electorate and encourage greater participation in the political process. We must ensure that more people are registered to turn out to vote if we wish to protect our place within the United Kingdom.”
ENDS
