THE family of three children killed by the UVF during the height of the Drumcree crisis have called for a controversial loyalist parade through a Co Antrim village to be banned.
Frankie Quinn last night called for the annual Ballymaconnelly Sons of Conquerors Flute Band parade through Rasharkin later this month to be banned, or at least re-routed away from the village centre.
The 44-year-old's nephews Richard (11), Mark (10) and Jason (9) Quinn died after their home in the Protestant Carnaney estate was petrol-bombed by UVF members on July 12 1998.
A fourth brother, Lee, was staying with his grandmother in Rasharkin at the time of the attack.
The deaths, which came at the height of the Drumcree crisis, caused widespread outrage and made international headlines.
The brothers died after a petrol bomb was thrown into a downstairs room of their home.
Their mother Chrissie, a Catholic, was treated in hospital for her injuries while two other adults escaped the inferno.
The boys are buried side-by-side in St Mary's cemetery in their mother's native Rasharkin while several members of the family live in the village including their grandmother Irene Patton.
In recent years nationalists have opposed the Ballymaconnelly Sons of Conquerors Flute Band annual parade through the village claiming some of the bands taking part have carried flags and banners glorifying loyalists paramilitary groups.
Despite local opposition the band has applied to the Parades Commission to hold a parade through the majority nationalist village on August 22.
The parade will involve up to 44 bands and 1,335 participants.
Frankie Quinn last night said the loyalist parade is an annual reminder of the tragedy that struck his family 16 years ago and called for it to be "re-routed and if possible cancelled".
Mr Quinn said the parade was also a reminder of the attitude of loyalist bands at the time who defied a police call not to play music past the wake house in the days following the killings.
"It drags it all back up again and none of the family can get out of the house.
"We have been speaking out about this but no-one has been listening," he said.
"We want the Parades Commission to take the whole village's view into consideration."
Mr Quinn - who appeared in court in 2007 accused of stabbing Garfield Gilmour, the man convicted of the boys' manslaughter - said he had been threatened up to a dozen times by loyalists since the killings.
He also claims he has been warned by both the UDA and UVF to keep out of Ballymoney- a warning he continues to defy.
Mr Quinn, who is not a member of the local nationalist protest group Rasharkin Residents' Collective (RRC), said he is willing to meet the Parades Commission.
Meanwhile, it emerged last night that the RRC has suspended several protests in the village as "gesture" to loyal orders in the area.
Group spokesman Sean Hanna said that plans to protest during recent church parades and the annual July 12 parade through the village were scrapped in an effort to find a long-term deal on loyal order marches.
However, the spokesman said the group will continue to opposed the Ballymaconnelly parade.
Mr Hanna said his group has suggested an "alternative route" and he would ask organisers "if they are interested in shared space and peace they would recognise the pain they are causing to innocent victims in Rasharkin, in particular the Quinn family."
* 'PARADE AN ANNUAL REMINDER OF OUR TRAGEDY': Frankie Quinn