Loyalist paramilitaries launch jail separation campaign

LOYALIST paramilitaries yesterday launched a poster blitz across the North in a new bid to get their jailed comrades separated from republicans.

Thousands of Ulster Defence Association flyers demanding segregation for men locked up at the high-security Maghaberry Prison near Lisburn, Co Antrim, were put up in towns and cities overnight, supporters claimed.

Tommy Kirkham, of the UDA-affiliated Ulster Political Research Group, said: “This is a campaign of non-violence aimed at achieving separation. When the government is building walls between communities on the outside, why should these men be forced to live together on the inside?”

The move follows a dirty protest staged by dissident republican inmates at the jail, which houses some of the most notorious terrorists and criminals. Prisoners linked to the Real IRA and Continuity IRA have been smearing their cell walls with excrement in a bid to force the authorities to move them away from loyalists.

Their legal representatives lost a High Court battle yesterday against claims that they had been unjustly denied visits from lawyers because of the dispute. Even though prison bosses have vowed not to give in to the protesters, the loyalist campaign could now intensify the pressure.

The government has already set up a special review team to examine the difficulties and tensions inside Maghaberry. But Mr Kirkham insisted the UDA was determined to press ahead with its campaign, although he stressed there was no intention of causing trouble.