Man charged after attack on Sinn Féin MLA

A 21-year-old man has been arrested and charged in connection with an attack on a Sinn Féin assembly member in Co Antrim, police said today.

North Antrim MLA Daithi McKay and a party colleague, local councillor Padraig McShane, were set upon in the Dunclug estate outside the home of a community worker last week. Both men sustained minor injuries.

The attack took place during a dispute which flared over the removal of a bonfire to commemorate internment.

A TV camera crew which was in the estate at the time caught the incident on film.

The suspect was understood to have been detained in the Ballymena area last night.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland said the man had been charged with three counts of common assault, disorderly behaviour and causing an affray and was expected to appear in court in Ballymena later.