'Assembly has duty to tackle sectarianism'

The Northern Ireland Assembly must launch a “major assault on sectarianism” to prevent the North slipping back into “the nightmare years of the past”, MLAs were told today.

After a weekend of more street clashes in east Belfast, pipe bomb attacks, sectarian assaults in Derry and Kilrea and an attack on a Free Presbyterian open-air gospel service in Randalstown, Workers Party chairman John Lowry said the eradication of sectarianism must be a top priority.

“The Assembly has a duty, an obligation and a responsibility to the people of Northern Ireland to ensure that sectarianism is eradicated,” he argued.

“It is not only the sectarianism that manifests itself in physical form but the values and attitudes which underpin sectarianism and allow it to flourish - particularly the ‘them and us’ mentality as manifested in the use of the terms ‘our community’ and ‘their community’ by many MLAs.

“This is the kind of sectarianism that must be tackled and eradicated.”

Mr Lowry criticised unionist and nationalist leaders for using “the false philosophy of two communities” to subdue real, radical change to society.

This had to be overcome, the Workers Party chairman said.

He continued: “We must establish a society in which our citizens see themselves primarily as citizens – not Protestant citizens or Roman Catholic citizens or whatever.

“We must collectively set about the task of eliminating sectarianism or we will be leaving the seeds for potential conflict in the future.

“We owe it to our children and their children to learn the lessons of the past and tackle this evil now.”