Councillor flees home after loyalist death threats

An Alliance Party councillor who spoke out during the union flag row at Belfast City Hall has been forced to leave her home.

Police told Laura McNamee, 27, she had been threatened by loyalists.

The council voted to fly the union flag 17 days a year rather than 365. Unionists had wanted no change to the policy while nationalists had called for the complete removal of the flag.

A proposal for designated days was put forward by the non-sectarian Alliance Party and was backed by nationalists.

Ms McNamee accused the UUP and DUP of trying to browbeat Alliance by using scaremonger tactics.

“It has not worked,” she told the council chamber. “The use of the flag as a political football does nothing to support a shared future.”

Meanwhile, police said they had no intelligence to suggest there would be violence at the protest, at which up to 1,500 people convened on the city hall. Rioting loyalists tried to smash their way in after the vote.