NI councillors asked to condemn Reid comments

Belfast city councillors are to be asked to condemn comments by IRA disarmament witness Fr Alec Reid comparing unionist treatment…

Belfast city councillors are to be asked to condemn comments by IRA disarmament witness Fr Alec Reid comparing unionist treatment of Catholics to the Nazis' treatment of Jews.

Democratic Unionist councillor Nelson McCausland has tabled a motion for the council's monthly meeting describing the Catholic priest's comment, which was made during angry exchanges at a public meeting in a Belfast Presbyterian church, as unjustified.

The motion also asks councillors to acknowledge that it had caused immense hurt among unionists, increased sectarianism and damaged community relations.

During angry exchanges with some audience members at the meeting in Fitzroy Presbyterian Church, Fr Reid, a Redemptorist priest who witnessed IRA decommissioning along with Methodist minister the Rev Harold Good, said: "The reality is that the nationalist community in Northern Ireland were treated almost like animals by the unionist community.

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"They (Catholics) were not treated like human beings. It was like the Nazis' treatment of the Jews." Issuing a fulsome apology after calming down, he said he had been provoked and in the heat of the moment lost his temper.

Following a complaint by victims group campaigner Willie Frazer, the PSNI has been investigating the comments by Fr Reid.