DUP and TUV must call for rallies to stop after Beattie poster, says SDLP Leader

Colum Eastwood has urged unionist politicians to call a halt to anti-protocol rallies after a poster of the UUP leader in a noose appeared at the most recent demonstration.

The SDLP leader urged DUP head Sir Jeffrey Donaldson and TUV chief Jim Allister to stop attending the controversial gatherings after Friday night's incident in Lurgan.

Mr Eastwood stressed a need to cool community tensions as he expressed concern about the image of UUP leader Doug Beattie and other threatening incidents linked to the Assembly election campaign, including the burning of campaign posters and an alleged bid to intimidate an SDLP candidate.

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Rallies have been taking place across Northern Ireland in recent months outlining unionist and loyalist opposition to the post-Brexit protocol which sees additional checks on goods arriving into Northern Ireland from Great Britain.

Mr Beattie recently announced his party would no longer attend the events after he claimed they were being used to whip up tensions.

His constituency office in Portadown has since been attacked by vandals, and at Friday night's rally in Lurgan, a poster portraying his head in a rope noose appeared near the platform.

Damaged window of Doug Beattie's constituency office in Portadown. Credit: PA

Sir Jeffrey and Mr Allister, who both continue to attend the events, turned the poster away from public view before the speeches commenced.

Mr Eastwood voiced concern at the episode as he formally launched his party's election campaign at an event in west Belfast on Monday.

"Of course you're entitled to protest - you're not entitled to put a poster with a noose around Doug Beattie's neck," he said.

"The people who did that have no votes, they couldn't lace Doug Beattie's boots, to be honest."

SDLP Leader Colum Eastwood MP. Credit: Press Eye

He also highlighted incidents where West Belfast SDLP candidate Paul Doherty reported being threatened on the Shankill Road and the posters of other candidates were burned.

On the anti-protocol rallies, Mr Eastwood said: "I will call on the unionist leaders who are still going to these protests - protests that are, I think, stirring up a lot of issues that don't need to be stirred up in this community - I would say to them very clearly, you're entitled to protest, but with protest, with entitlements and rights, come responsibilities.

"And I think any responsible leader would at this point say there'll be no more protests, we'll calm things down, we'll go into a room and we'll discuss how we deal with these issues together."

The SDLP campaign is focused on the cost-of-living crisis in Northern Ireland.

At the event in the Culturlann on the Falls Road, Mr Eastwood accused the DUP and Sinn Fein of failing to deliver for people in their time leading the executive.

He was particularly critical of the DUP for its recent move to collapse the powersharing executive in protest at the Northern Ireland Protocol.

"I think the lesson out of this is that the only people that you can trust - and I say this to unionists' leaders - the people that you can trust to work with you, the people you can trust to build a better society with you, are people like the people in this room, and your neighbours, because Boris Johnson is not going to be there when all these protests are over," he said.

"And some of the rabble rousers who are shouting at the back of lorries and winding young people up will not be there when this election is over either.

"And at some point, we're going to have to come back together and work the common ground, work together, get these institutions up and deal with the issues that really matter.

"Because whilst Jeffrey Donaldson was walking away, people's bills were going through the roof, and I'm sick of knocking doors in places like Derry and people are answering the door with their coats on.

"People can't even afford to turn the heating on, and they're worried about whether they can put food on the table."

Among those who attended Monday morning's launch event was SDLP veteran Joe Hendron, 30 years on from his famous victory in the Westminster election in West Belfast.

Northern Ireland Assembly election candidates

Belfast East (13)

  • Andy Allen - Ulster Unionists

  • Karl Bennett - PUP

  • David Brooks - DUP

  • Joanne Bunting - DUP

  • Charlotte Carson - SDLP

  • Hannah Kenny - People Before Profit

  • Lauren Kerr - Ulster Unionists

  • Naomi Long - Alliance Party

  • Eoin MacNeill - The Workers Party

  • Peter McReynolds - Alliance Party

  • Mairead O’Donnell - Sinn Féin

  • John Ross - TUV

  • Brian Smyth - Green Party

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Belfast North (14)

  • Phillip Brett - DUP

  • Julie-Ann Corr-Johnston - Ulster Unionists

  • Fiona Ferguson - People Before Profit

  • Billy Hutchinson - PUP

  • Gerry Kelly - Sinn Féin

  • Lily Kerr - The Workers Party

  • Brian Kingston - DUP

  • Seán Mac NioCaill - Aontú

  • Nichola Mallon - SDLP

  • Nuala McAllister - Alliance Party

  • Ron McDowell - TUV

  • Carál Ní Chuilín - Sinn Féin

  • Mal O’Hara - Green Party

  • Stafford Ward - Independent

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Belfast South (14)

  • Clare Bailey - Green Party

  • Paula Bradshaw - Alliance Party

  • Andrew Girvin - TUV

  • Deirdre Hargey - Sinn Féin

  • Paddy Lynn -The Workers Party

  • Luke McCann - Aontú

  • Stephen McCarthy - Ulster Unionists

  • Neil Moore - Socialist Party (NI)

  • Elly Odhiambo - Independent

  • Matthew O’Toole - SDLP

  • Edwin Poots - DUP

  • Kate Nicholl - Alliance Party

  • Sipho Sibanda - People Before Profit

  • Elsie Trainor - SDLP

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Belfast West (17)

  • Danny Baker - Sinn Féin

  • Gerard Burns - Independent

  • Gerry Carroll - People Before Profit

  • Patrick Crossan - The Workers Party

  • Paul Doherty - SDLP

  • Jordan Doran - TUV

  • Órlaithí Flynn - Sinn Féin

  • Linsey Victoria Gibson - Ulster Unionists

  • Gerard Herdman - Aontú

  • Donnamarie Higgins - Alliance Party

  • Declan Hill - Independent

  • Stevie Maginn - Green Party

  • Tony Mallon - Independent

  • Frank McCoubrey - DUP

  • Dan Murphy - Irish Republican Socialist Party

  • Aisling Reilly - Sinn Féin

  • Pat Sheehan - Sinn Féin

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East Antrim (10)

  • Mark Francis Bailey - Green Party

  • Roy Beggs - Ulster Unionists

  • Norman Boyd - TUV

  • Stewart Dickson - Alliance Party

  • Danny Donnelly - Alliance Party

  • David Hilditch - DUP

  • Gordon Lyons - DUP

  • Siobhán McAlister - SDLP

  • Oliver McMullan - Sinn Féin

  • John Stewart - Ulster Unionists

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East Londonderry (16)

  • Jordan Armstrong - TUV

  • Maurice Bradley - DUP

  • Gemma Brolly - Aontú

  • Mark Coulson - Green Party

  • Caoimhe Archibald - Sinn Féin

  • Cara Hunter - SDLP

  • Chris McCaw - Alliance Party

  • Kathleen McGurk - Sinn Féin

  • Amy Louise Merron - People Before Profit

  • Niall Murphy - Independent

  • Stephanie Quigley - Independent

  • Alan Robinson - DUP

  • Billy Stewart - Independent

  • Claire Sugden - Independent

  • Russell Watton - PUP

  • Darryl Wilson - Ulster Unionists

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Fermanagh and South Tyrone (16)

  • Derek Backhouse - Independent

  • Rosemary Barton - Ulster Unionists

  • Matthew Beaumont - Alliance Party

  • Paul Bell - DUP

  • Emma DeSouza - Independent

  • Jemma Dolan - Sinn Féin

  • Alex Elliott - TUV

  • Tom Elliott - Ulster Unionists

  • Deborah Erskine - DUP

  • Adam Gannon - SDLP

  • Colm Gildernew - Sinn Féin

  • Emmett Kilpatrick - People Before Profit

  • Denise Mullen - Aontú

  • Áine Murphy - Sinn Féin

  • Donal O'Cofaigh - Cross-Community Labour Alternative

  • Kellie Turtle - Green Party

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Foyle (14)

  • Padraig Delargy - Sinn Féin

  • Emmet Doyle - Aontú

  • Mark H Durkan - SDLP

  • Ciara Ferguson - Sinn Féin

  • Rachael Ferguson - Alliance Party

  • Gillian Hamilton - Green Party

  • Shaun Harkin - People Before Profit

  • Anne McCloskey - Independent

  • Ryan McCready - Ulster Unionists

  • Colly McLaughlin - Irish Republican Socialist Party

  • Sinéad McLaughlin - SDLP

  • Gary Middleton - DUP

  • Elizabeth Neely - TUV

  • Brian James Tierney - SDLP

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Lagan Valley (12)

  • Robbie Butler - Ulster Unionists

  • Pat Catney - SDLP

  • Amanda Doherty - People Before Profit

  • Sir Jeffrey Donaldson - DUP

  • Sorcha Eastwood - Alliance Party

  • Paul Givan - DUP

  • David Honeyford - Alliance Party

  • Gary Hynds - Independent

  • Simon Lee - Green Party

  • Gary McCleave - Sinn Féin

  • Lorna Smyth - TUV

  • Laura Turner - Ulster Unionists

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Mid Ulster (14)

  • Keith Buchanan - DUP

  • Linda Dillon - Sinn Féin

  • Meta Graham - Ulster Unionists

  • Claire Hackett - Alliance Party

  • Alixandra Halliday - Aontú

  • Patrick Haughey - Independent

  • Sophia McFeely - People Before Profit

  • Patsy McGlone - SDLP

  • Glenn Moore - TUV

  • Michelle O’Neill - Sinn Féin

  • Conor Rafferty - The Resume Party (NI)

  • Hugh Francis Scullion - The Workers Party

  • Emma Sheerin - Sinn Féin

  • Stefan Taylor - Green Party

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Newry and Armagh (12)

  • Cathal Boylan - Sinn Féin

  • Jackie Coade - Alliance Party

  • Daniel Connolly - Aontú

  • Nicola Grant - The Workers Party

  • Ciara Henry - Green Party

  • William G Irwin - DUP

  • Liz Kimmins - Sinn Féin

  • Gavin Malone - Independent

  • Justin McNulty - SDLP

  • Conor Murphy - Sinn Féin

  • Keith Ratcliffe - TUV

  • David Taylor - Ulster Unionists

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North Antrim (11)

  • Jim Allister - TUV

  • Matthew Armstrong - TUV

  • Bethany Ferris - Ulster Unionists

  • Paul Frew - DUP

  • Philip McGuigan - Sinn Féin

  • Patricia O’Lynn - Alliance Party

  • Eugene Reid - SDLP

  • Laird Shingleton - Independent

  • Mervyn Storey - DUP

  • Robin Swann - Ulster Unionists

  • Paul Veronica - Green Party

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North Down (14)

  • Chris Carter - Independent

  • Alan Chambers - Ulster Unionists

  • Stephen Gordon Dunne - DUP

  • Alex Easton - Independent

  • Connie Egan - Alliance Party

  • Jennifer Mary Gilmour - DUP

  • John Gordon - TUV

  • Naomi McBurney - Ulster Unionists

  • Thérèse McCartney - Sinn Féin

  • Ray McKimm - Independent

  • Andrew Muir - Alliance

  • Matthew Robinson - Conservative and Unionist Party

  • Deirdre Vaughan - SDLP

  • Rachel Woods - Green Party

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South Antrim (12)

  • Steve Aiken - Ulster Unionists

  • Roisin Bennett - Aontú

  • John Kenneth Blair - Alliance Party

  • Pam Cameron - DUP

  • Trevor Clarke - DUP

  • Declan Kearney - Sinn Féin

  • Mel Lucas - TUV

  • Roisin Lynch - SDLP

  • Jerry Maguire - People Before Profit

  • Paul Michael - Ulster Unionists

  • Andrew Moran - Independent

  • Lesley Veronica - Green Party

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South Down (12)

  • Patrick Brown - Alliance Party

  • Patrick Clarke - Independent

  • Sinéad Ennis - Sinn Féin

  • Diane Forsythe - DUP

  • Noeleen Lynch - Green Party

  • Jill MacAuley - Ulster Unionists

  • Cathy Mason - Sinn Féin

  • Paul McCrory - People Before Profit

  • Rosemary McGlone - Aontú

  • Colin McGrath - SDLP

  • Harold McKee - TUV

  • Karen McKevitt - SDLP

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Strangford (12)

  • Kellie Armstrong - Alliance Party

  • Stephen Cooper - TUV

  • Harry Harvey - DUP

  • Conor Houston - SDLP

  • Ben King - Independent

  • Maurice McCartney - Green Party

  • Nick Mathison - Alliance Party

  • Róisé McGivern - Sinn Féin

  • Michelle McIlveen - DUP

  • Mike Nesbitt - Ulster Unionists

  • Philip Smith - Ulster Unionists

  • Peter Weir - DUP

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Upper Bann (12)

  • Glenn Barr - Ulster Unionists

  • Doug Beattie - Ulster Unionists

  • Glenn Beattie - Heritage Party

  • Jonathan Buckley - DUP

  • Diane Dodds - DUP

  • Darrin Foster - TUV

  • Aidan Gribbin - Aontú

  • Dolores Kelly - SDLP

  • Lauren Kendall - Green Party

  • Liam Mackle - Sinn Féin

  • John O’Dowd - Sinn Féin

  • Éoin Tennyson - Alliance Party

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West Tyrone (14)

  • Nicola Brogan - Sinn Féin

  • Barry Brown - Independent

  • Tom Buchanan - DUP

  • Trevor Clarke - TUV

  • Stephen Donnelly - Alliance Party

  • Amy Ferguson - Socialist Party (NI)

  • Carol Gallagher - People Before Profit

  • Paul Gags Gallagher - Independent

  • Susan Glass - Green Party

  • James Hope - Aontú

  • Ian Marshall - Ulster Unionists

  • Declan McAleer - Sinn Féin

  • Daniel McCrossan - SDLP

  • Maolíosa McHugh - Sinn Féin

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