PUP MLA reconsiders support for Agreement

PUP Assembly member David Ervine, whose party has links to the loyalist paramilitary UVF, has said he is considering withdrawing his support for the Good Friday Agreement.

His statement follows the violent Sinn Fein protests in south Armagh at the weekend.

Twenty policemen were injured when members of Ogra Sinn Fein, the party’s youth wing, clashed with officers at British army watchtowers in three locations.

Sinn Fein has insisted its members were responding to heavy-handed police tactics, but Mr Ervine said the protest shows that the republican party has reneged on its commitment to non-violence.