Irish Examiner view: Masked marchers are misreading the mood

Bad taste was never an impediment for extremists, but Saoradh parade was a particularly untimely throwback to darker days

Easter Monday's paramilitary-style parade in Derry flouted rulings by the parades commission and also defied the appeals to desist by the family of Lyra McKee whose anniversary fell on the same day. Picture: Liam McBurney/PA

The ability of extreme shades of political opinion to misread the room, and drive their objectives further away rather than closer, should never be underestimated. Three weeks ago it was a hijacking and a bomb hoax at a reconciliation event in Belfast which led to a hasty departure for Foreign Minister Simon Coveney. 

This weekend it was a parade in Derry by masked and dark-clothed members of Saoradh, a group frequently linked to the New IRA, on the third anniversary of the murder of journalist Lyra McKee.