Ulster Unionist MLA Robin Swann has expressed his contempt for the Coleraine youths who were pictured burning Poppies.
The North Antrim MLA said;
“As the Nation prepares to mark Remembrance Day and to pause to reflect on those who have fallen or been injured in Wars and Conflicts, it is almost beyond belief that some young people in Coleraine would choose to photograph themselves burning poppies and to post the photos on a social networking site.
Clearly something is lacking in the lives of these young people and they deserve our utter contempt. They certainly have no grasp of history or current affairs. If they did they would know that the Poppy remembers the tens of thousands of Irishmen from both traditions who served in the British Army in the First World War, and also those who stood against Hitler and Fascism in the Second World War. How anyone could be so ignorant to burn a symbol which remembers the Fallen is beyond belief.
The tragic irony is that the freedoms which the poppy burners both enjoy and abuse, have been paid for by other young men and women who have the courage to put on a uniform and place themselves in harm’s way.
I would much prefer to salute the courage of our young people in Uniform and not dwell on the type of hopeless cowards who would burn poppies.”