SDLP East Derry MLA John Dallat has condemned those responsible for the appearance of UDA recruitment posters in Co Derry.
Posters were found on walls around the Harpar’s Hill area of Coleraine.
Mr Dallat said: “The appearance of these UDA ‘recruitment’ posters is a blatant attempt to raise tensions and shows a flagrant disregard for the rule of law.
“It is a disappointing reality for many that this latest offence will not come as a big surprise, with flags hanging from hundreds of street lamps and no apparent initiative to take them down.
“The UDA claim that loyalists are being harassed by the PSNI is a falsehood and typical of what bullyboys scream when they don’t get their own way at every turn.
“Through the website of their so-called political wing, the Ulster Political Research Group (UPRG), the UDA is drumming up hate against innocent Catholic individuals and businesses for no other reason than to promote sectarianism and attempt to reclaim a power base which they used in the past to murder innocent Catholics and Protestants in North Antrim and East Derry.
“History must not be allowed to repeat itself and both the British and Irish Governments need to be acutely aware that the principles and aspirations of the Good Friday Agreement are being flouted by an illegal organisation which, far from hiding in fear of prosecution, is now openly putting up posters looking for ‘volunteers’ in Coleraine.
“The Deputy First Minister and the Secretary of State for NI continue to chase each other around the United States when they should be asking obvious questions about the existence and ability of this terror group to operate openly as they do.”
