Love Ulster marchers at Leinster House: Love Ulster activists held a brief parade outside the Dáil on Saturday afternoon, despite the riots on O'Connell Street.
Eight busloads of Love Ulster members and supporters including six loyalist bands travelled to Dublin bearing Union Jack and Red Hand of Ulster flags.
They gathered in parade formation at Parnell Square about 12.30pm, intending to march to Leinster House. When the rioting broke out they were bused instead with Garda protection to the Dáil around 2pm.
William Frazer of the Protestant victims' group Families Acting for Innocent Relatives described yesterday how a brief parade took place along Kildare Street with the victims at the front and six loyalist bands following and playing behind
Orangemen and other supporters were interspersed between the bands. Also prominent among the flags was a South Down DUP standard.
Outside Leinster House they started assembling in preparation for the speeches from the likes of Mr Frazer, deputy leader of the Ulster Unionist Party Danny Kennedy and DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson. "But when the mob started coming down Nassau Street and that general area towards us the Garda advised us that it would not be safe to go ahead with the rally and we decided to take that advice," Mr Donaldson said yesterday.
"I want to say that the Garda acted in a very professional and co-operative manner at all times towards us," he added. "We very much regret what happened. We did not want to place anybody's life at risk and took the advice to leave the city."
The six buses with Garda protection headed back to the Border. Past Dundalk, however, a number of breeze blocks were thrown at two of the buses from one of the flyover bridges over the new motorway that bypasses Dundalk. "Luckily no one was injured," said Mr Frazer.
Directly after the rally was cancelled Mr Frazer, Mr Kennedy, Mr Donaldson and some victims of republican violence travelled by car to meet Minister for Justice Michael McDowell in the Berkeley Court Hotel in south Dublin.
"We mainly spoke about the riot and we also mentioned our belief that some gardaí colluded with the IRA during the Troubles. Michael McDowell told us that unlike the rioters, he was a true republican," said Mr Frazer.
Mr Donaldson said the organisers would give careful consideration to rescheduling the aborted parade and rally, although any further threat to life and property might rule out such a rearrangement. Mr Frazer commented similarly, but thought such an event would now be impossible.
Mr Donaldson said "ordinary Dubliners" had warmly welcomed them to the city, but that republican rioters had clearly demonstrated that whatever about waving the Tricolour, they had no interest in "uniting the Orange and the Green".
Mr Donaldson said that notwithstanding Sinn Féin leadership calls on members to ignore the rally, Sinn Féin members were involved in rioting.
"The police confirmed to us that a number of Sinn Féin activists were involved. Clearly the Sinn Féin leadership is not in control of these people," added Mr Donaldson.
"The leadership need to ask themselves, do they want people like that in their ranks? If those involved are not expelled by Sinn Féin, then what does that say about Sinn Féin?"
Mr Frazer said he also did not accept that Sinn Féin opposed the protest and rioting. "If Sinn Féin hadn't wanted trouble there would have been no trouble," he said.
LOVE ULSTER GROUP: WHO THEY ARE
Love Ulster comprises Protestant victims' group such as Families Acting for Innocent Relatives (Fair) and Women Raising Unionist Concerns as well as the Orange Order, other loyal order members and loyalist activists.
They say Northern Ireland's union with Britain is being diminished and a list of "unremitting concessions" are being given to republicans.
In October they staged a rally in the Shankill area of Belfast attended by up to 5,000 people.
Love Ulster's first public manifestation was in August last year when its members, some of them loyalist paramilitaries, symbolically revisited the anti-Home Rule importation of UVF guns into Larne in 1914. Its members brought 200,000 copies of a special edition of the Shankill Mirror into the port of Larne in August, bearing the banner headline, "Ulster At Crisis Point". Love Ulster warns that Ulster is at "crisis point" and on the verge of being "sold out" into a united Ireland. One of its leading figures is Willie Frazer of the south Armagh Protestant victims' group Fair, who lost five of his relatives, including his father, to IRA violence.
