“Republican separatism is on the rise..”

While Sinn Féin MLA, Daithí McKay, and Moyle SF Councillor Pádraig McShane, were being assaulted in the Dunclug estate in Ballymena by self-declared “young republicans”, the Derry Journal carries some very pointed claims from a spokeman for the 32 County Sovereignty movement about what’s happening in Londonderry. From the Journal report

“These verbal and physical attacks are the work of a small but dangerous group of Provisional movement hangers-on who seem intent on creating a civil war mentality between the Provisionals and members of the republican movement. We ask the Provisionals to keep their members in check before the situation gets out of control and we would ask whose agenda this is and whose it serves?” He added: “Republican separatism is on the rise in Derry and across the nation and we would urge our members not to react to what appears to be the last kicks of a wounded animal. “The republican project will not be dragged into the gutter by these people and we will stand firm behind the republican position.”

Pete Baker