“it was a mistake to organise a meeting without talking to people in the local community..”

A meeting of the South Belfast sub-committee of the Belfast District Policing Partnership was abandoned this evening after a protest by around 20 people [Adds up to 30 in this report]. And with Sinn Féin Cllr Bernice Swift still, as far as I’m aware, “suspended without prejudice” – and with other recent events in mind – some interesting comments, in the BBC report, from Sinn Féin’s Alex Maskey, MLA, who sits on the Policing Board.

“Some of them (the protesters), would have been former Sinn Fein supporters, some would never have supported Sinn Fein,” he said.

“This was as much a protest against us as a party engaging with policing as it was against the police.

“We have a mandate from people in the Markets to engage, but I feel it was a mistake to organise a meeting without talking to people in the local community.”

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