Unionism must face political reality

The violent expression of indignation by loyalists and Orange Order members at the sight of the Lord Mayor of Belfast Máirtín Ó Muilleoir visiting the Shankill Road is nothing more than a grotesque display of raw sectarianism.

Compelled to live on this island on the same terms as the rest of us following generations of a unionist hegemony in a gerrymandered state, unionism is now suffocating in its own political bile.

To present this abhorrent behaviour as a justified reaction to the curtailment of the flying of the Union flag, or because of restrictions imposed by the Parades Commission on specific Orange Order marches, is dishonest.