The Ulster Unionist Party’s Justice Spokesperson, Doug Beattie MC MLA, has condemned the scenes which took place outside Maghaberry prison on Saturday during a protest, and in which a police officer was injured.
Doug Beattie MC MLA said:
“Yesterday supporters of dissident republican prisoners took it upon themselves to hold a protest outside Maghaberry prison and as a result of disturbances which broke out, a police officer was injured.
“This entire situation is an exercise in futility. The bottom line is that anyone who still supports the failed and flawed concept of physical force republicanism has nothing positive to offer anyone and is on a road to nowhere. All this ideology ever did was fill the jails and fill the graveyards, destroying lives and communities in the process.
“I would like to wish the injured officer a speedy recovery and would urge the authorities to be very mindful what kind of protests they facilitate near our prisons in future, not least in the midst of the current Pandemic.”