Loyalist campaigner Jamie Bryson has said a Dublin protest against the Northern Ireland protocol may be “necessary”.
Loyalists in Northern Ireland could hold a protest in Dublin next month, as frustration grows among campaigners about the inclusion of the Northern Ireland protocol in the Brexit agreement.
“The EU clearly aren’t listening, and I suppose one way to make them listen is to bring the anger around the NI Protocol to Dublin in mass numbers,” Jamie Bryson, a well-known loyalist organizer in Belfast, said last night.
“Given the Irish government believe they have the right to impose upon our country an economic united Ireland, I think that once the annual 12th July celebrations conclude then it probably will be necessary to exercise the right to peaceful protest in Dublin in large numbers.
“Maybe that will make the Irish government realise that if they are intent on imposing instability within Northern Ireland, then instability will be brought to their country via peaceful protests.”
A similar 2006 “Love Ulster” rally in Dublin was abandoned when republican demonstrators stopped loyalists marching through the city, with over 40 injuries recorded on the day.
Tension is now building across Northern Ireland as loyalists express frustration with Westminster’s Brexit agreement, fearing a loosening of the six counties’ economic ties to Britain due to the free flow of EU goods into Northern Ireland without checks, in contrast to how British goods entering Northern Ireland must be handled.
The Northern Ireland protocol means the six counties remain in the single market and operate under EU customs rules, despite criticism from Brussels that it has not yet been properly implemented.
The arrangement, which would see British goods checked at Northern Ireland ports upon arrival, has been defended by the EU as the only means of avoiding the implementation of a hard border between the north and south on island of Ireland.
The EU and UK have failed to make progress in talks on implementing the Northern Ireland Protocol. The European Commission Vice-President, Maros Sefcovic said patience was wearing very thin and warned the EU could take retaliatory action | https://t.co/VVaM6SrB4h pic.twitter.com/cXZjbscZsP
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) June 9, 2021
With several days and nights of intense loyalist rioting against the protocol behind them, followed by a peaceful 3,000 strong march along the Shankill Road in West Belfast last week, attention will now turn to the annual Orange Order marches across Northern Ireland.
Bryson insists that “”any discussions I’ve been privy to have quite rightly focused solely on peaceful protest” in Dublin, but warned that “unbeknown to me” there may be others “having different conversations I am not aware of, I can only speak to that which is within my own personal knowledge.”
“There’s a lot of anger and this really is seen as the biggest threat to the union since the formation of Northern Ireland, so there obviously is the lingering concern that some people may unfortunately conclude that politics has failed and step into that vacuum,” he said.
“That’s why it is so imperative that this protocol is removed to protect peace.”
It’s logical to conclude that peaceful protests should be brought into the heart of the EU member state who more than any other is responsible for the instability in NI via the attempted coerced imposition of an economic United Ireland. pic.twitter.com/AZEs3GZZuD
— Jamie Bryson (@JamieBrysonCPNI) June 15, 2021
Echoes of the now infamous ‘love ulster’ March in Dublin led by Willie Fraser https://t.co/oAzzzyqJ1s
— Robert Ashe (@robertashe) June 15, 2021
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