Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:
“More than two months after writing to the PSNI about the issue they have conceded to me that the scale of the police operations in East Belfast to deal with bonfires was “broadly as described” in a letter in which I challenged them on the issue. They have also singularly failed to address my concerns about how they dealt with attacks on Protestants in Londonderry around the same time.
“In my letter I advised how I was in receipt of reports that over 40 Land Rovers and 200 officers were deployed in East Belfast to deal with a situation relating to a bonfire. I went on to contrast this with events in Londonderry where Protestants had come under attack from petrol bombers. I cited the example of the night of the 8th July and pointed out that there is evidence of thugs approaching the Fountain area in broad daylight in a repeat performance of what had happened on previous nights and being able to stone the area without a police officer in sight.
“I went on to observe that there appeared to a clearly unequal response by the PSNI and this was undermining confidence in the police among many in the Unionist community.
“To be advised more than two months later that the PSNI deployed resources in Londonderry in line with “policing with the community ethos” while no such comment is made about what happened in East Belfast is extremely telling.
“The PSNI – it would appear – did what Sinn Fein and their front groups told them to do when it came to policing attacks on the minority community in Londonderry. What a contrast with East Belfast!”