McDonald: SF candidates were abused by people also ‘cavorting with vicious loyalist elements’ in Belfast

People who abused Sinn Féin candidates on the doorsteps during the last local election campaign were the same individuals seen “cavorting with very, very vicious loyalist elements” in Belfast during the summer, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has said.
A number of far-right agitators from Dublin attended an anti-immigration rally in Belfast last month that descended into violence. Some of the Dublin activists – who refer to themselves as “Irish patriots” online – appeared at the Belfast protest holding Tricolours alongside members of the loyalist community brandishing union flags.
In an interview on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland on Monday, Ms McDonald was asked about her party’s poor performance in the local elections, where there was a 60 per cent drop in its vote from the last general election.
Presenter Gavin Jennings put it to Ms McDonald that videos had circulated during the campaign showing Sinn Féin candidates being chased away from doorsteps in housing estates and being called traitors.
“Light was shed on all of these matters when the same individuals were seen above in Belfast cavorting with very, very vicious loyalist elements. In fact marching down the Ormeau Road and poking fun at the fact that five innocent Catholics had been gunned down in Graham’s bookmakers there,” Ms McDonald said.
“I think that spoke to the agenda and the mentality of those who were shouting abuse at anyone and in fact I think it has become very, very clear in many, many communities who in fact the traitors are.”
Sinn Féin politicians had been activists in local communities for a very long time she said, adding: “We’re not Johnny come latelys to any of this.” There was, she said, a concerted effort online to “come at Sinn Féin” during the election campaign.
“The only thing I could conclude from the whole thing is that those who were shouting all of this abuse fundamentally don’t want change, fundamentally they want the status quo, fundamentally they don’t want all of the things that are better for our communities.”
However, she said it was “not fair” to place people seeking international protection into areas “that are literally on their knees”.
When asked if she had identified places which were suitable for asylum accommodation she said: “The suitable places are those places that are not dealing with those levels of want and deprivation and areas where you go and you have the conversations with the community.”
Her party planned to run about 70 candidates in the next general election she said.