Trimble accused during election rally

Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble was today heckled during an assembly election visit to Antrim.

The Upper Bann MP confronted hard-line unionists at the Castle Shopping Centre in Antrim, where he was canvassing alongside Ulster Unionist candidate Jim Wilson.

He was castigated by one man who accused him of breaking promises on the future of the Royal Ulster Constabulary and flying of the Union flag from government buildings.

A woman also told him: “You were going to be firm on the IRA but you would rather shake the hand of a terrorist and a murderer rather than face your own people.”

Mr Trimble brazened out the criticism, insisting that he had been firm on the IRA and insisted he was facing the people during the assembly election.

Mr Trimble claimed that those who heckled him were a “Paisleyite group”, who had hung around the town after the visit of the Democratic Unionist.