Today in the Assembly, Jim Allister asked the Justice Minister for her thoughts on Stormont being lit for the Black Lives Matter protest movement while a request to light the building for innocent victims of terrorism was refused. In response Naomi Long did not address Mr Allister’s question but suggested that sectarianism attended his raising of this issue.
Commenting on the matter Mr Allister said:
“As Justice Minister Naomi Long has particular duties when it comes to innocent victims. She oversees the system which should be seeking to bring those who made people victims to justice. Naomi Long should know that innocent victims come from both sides of the community. She should know that at the event to mark Innocent Victims Day there were victims of both Republican and Loyalist terrorism who attended and addressed the event. In fact, Innocent Victims Day is about much more than Northern Ireland. This reality was reflected at the event I organised back in March by the attendance of victims of the Madrid train bombings.
“Mrs Long was aware of all these facts because, like all democrats elected to the Assembly, she received an invitation to the event.
“Had she taken up the opportunity to attend she would have known that the failure of the Assembly Commission to light the building caused deep hurt and offence. That hurt and offence was not limited to one side of the community. It was not even limited to Northern Ireland. Yet today she seeks to brand me as sectarian for daring to ask for her view on the double standards when it came to innocent victims and the Black Lives Matter movement.
“I appreciate that Mrs Long was somewhat put out at being required to answer questions on the protests – she made that abundantly clear in the chamber – but I hope that once she has reflected on the matter she will apologise. Surely Alliance don’t really believe that it is sectarian to speak up for victims?”