UDA stakes out new homes against Catholics and rivals

UDA bosses have shrouded the outskirts of a new social housing complex with paramilitary flags as a means of marking territory for the loyalist gang.

The streets around the site of the old Newtownabbey Community High School have been covered with UDA and UFF banners.

The blatant act of intimidation is understood to be an attempt to take control of over a hundred houses and apartments on the edge of the Rathcoole estate for its own supporters.

A loyalist quoted in a Sunday newspaper said a local boss known as ‘The Butcher’ had demanded a massive UDA flag, the size of four normal ones, at the entrance to the new development “because of rumours Catholics will be moving in.

“The Butcher was complaining that there are ‘too many Taigs [Catholics] and Muslims’ living close to Rathcoole, and he wants to put a stop to it.”

However, the gang’s flag-flying has brought it into conflict with the rival unionist paramilitary UVF. More than half the Rathcoole estate is now covered in UDA flags, even streets which are normally reserved for the UVF.

In north Down, a dispute which began earlier this year with an attempt to manipulate the public housing list erupted into weeks of feuding between rival loyalist gangs, with dozens of families forced to flee their homes.

The appearance of loyalist paramilitary flags outside supermarkets in south Belfast could mark another escalation in loyalist territory-marking and intimidation. Flags also appeared outside a PSNI base, but they have refused to take action.

Pro-IRA signs were removed by the PSNI in Derry, but they have denied responsibility for removing the loyalist equivalent, claiming it is “cultural expression”.

SDLP councillor Donal Lyons said political leadership was needed to tackle loyalist paramilitary flags.

“It’s nothing new and it’s deeply frustrating,” he said. “For years we’ve been fobbed off with talks of a flags protocol that clearly never worked in any shape or form that was meaningful.”

Urgent Appeal