Security services in Northern Ireland and loyalist representative groups believe dissident loyalists are trying to establish a new paramilitary organisation on the pretext of opposition to the Brexit protocol.
The group is an offshoot of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) in east Belfast, which is heavily involved in drug trafficking and organised crime. It is trying to source military weapons, including sub-machineguns, to enable it to carry out more significant attacks.
The UVF, its parent organisation, is said to be monitoring its activities should the dissidents attempt to move against the recognised leadership. Its members are suspected of hijacking a Translink bus in Newtownards on Monday that was set ablaze.
The driver was ordered off the bus at 6.30am by two men who purported to represent a group called the Protestant Action Force, a cover name previously used by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) to claim responsibility for sectarian murders in the 1970s. The attackers poured petrol inside the bus, which was set ablaze.
Security sources said they are monitoring the activities of the group, which includes key figures, and are stepping up surveillance.
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David Campbell, chairman of the Loyalist Communities Council (LLC), which represents loyalist terrorist groups, said yesterday that the attack had not been authorised by the leaderships of the UVF, the Ulster Defence Association or the Red Hand Commando though he acknowledged it was carried out by loyalists.
“In my view this is a sign that unless we see demonstrable action on the Northern Ireland protocol, the existing leaderships will be swept aside,” he said.
The three groups withdrew their support for the Good Friday agreement last month over the protocol, the mechanism agreed during Brexit talks between the UK and EU to avoid the return of a hard border on the island of Ireland. The protocol imposes trade restrictions on some goods entering Northern Ireland from Britain, which has angered some loyalists.
Campbell said a number of issues were occurring that might give rise to the emergence of a new violent loyalist movement.
“The Northern Ireland protocol is being used to foment violence by particular elements that never reconciled themselves to power-sharing arrangements,” he said.
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Campbell also said attempts by loyalist paramilitary organisations to confront commercial criminality in their ranks was a driving force.
“Opposition to the protocol is providing an opportunity or cover perhaps for criminals to reassert themselves under the cloak of patriotism. The lack of engagement between loyalists and the secretary of state is another factor.”
He said the secretary of state had established a contact group in April but it had lasted only two weeks and there had been “no communication” since.
“One of our initial concerns in April was that criminal elements were using the issues surrounding the protocol to destabilise the existing leaderships that supported the Belfast agreement. Add these to the continual rhetoric from Sinn Fein, all of this starts to build up into a perfect storm,” he said.
Dr Peter Shirlow, a social demographer and head of Liverpool University’s Institute of Irish Studies, yesterday said loyalist groups had decided not to disband in order to prevent dissident groups from emerging.
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“They were concerned that if they left the stage, these micro-dissident groups would emerge. It’s already happened in republicanism. I think this is what is happening now,” he said.
“What this group are doing is against the majority view of the unionist and loyalist people, who believe the conflict is over and the use of violence is unacceptable. This is being driven by various motivations. Criminality is providing them with the resources to move away from the parent group and engage in violence,” Shirlow said.
