Paisley claims life was threatened

MR Ian Paisley jnr has claimed that he has been warned of a threat to his life by a leading paramilitary loyalist in the north…

MR Ian Paisley jnr has claimed that he has been warned of a threat to his life by a leading paramilitary loyalist in the north Antrim area because of what he has said about the loyalist protests at Harryville in Ballymena.

Mr Paisley, who represents North Antrim in the Northern Ireland Forum, has suggested that loyalist paramilitaries are orchestrating the Harryville protests, and that they should end.

Yesterday, Mr Paisley again linked the Harryville protests to the situation in Dunloy and said the resolution of the problems in both areas needed to be linked.

He suggested that Catholics' should recognise that Protestants had a right to march through Dunloy, and Protestants should accept that Catholics had a right to worship at Harryville.

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Asked if he would join other unionist spokesmen who have announced their intention of attending at Harryville tomorrow night, he said he would not.

"There are people who have a legitimate protest because they have been denied going to their place of worship in Dunloy, and you have people who've got a legitimate gripe because they're now being denied going to their legitimate place of worship in Harryville," he said.

"Let's resolve this by Protestants going to their traditional place of worship in their traditional way at Dunloy, and vice versa, the Roman Catholics get to their place of worship at Harryville."

Mr Paisley told reporters that police had told him of a death threat against him by a UVF leader in the north Antrim area.