Derry independent republican councillor Gary Donnelly has claimed a police search of his home was an attempt by police to "placate" the DUP.
Mr Donnelly, a leading member of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement, was speaking after police searched his home as part of investigations into last week’s funeral of Peggy O’Hara, the mother of INLA hunger striker, Patsy O’Hara.
Up to 12 officers searched the house in Derry’s Creggan area before removing mobile phones and a Derry City and Strabane District Council laptop.
The search comes after a masked man fired a volley of shots over Mrs O’Hara’s coffin last week. The DUP also reacted angrily to the presence of a huge INLA colour party at Mrs O’Hara’s funeral on Saturday.
Mr Donnelly said police told him they were searching his home under the Terrorism Act.
"They never at any stage gave any reasons why it was being searched; they just told me they were looking for a mobile phone and a laptop and other storage devices," he said.
Mr Donnelly said he intends complaining to the Police Ombudsman after he claimed he was assaulted while attempting to phone his solicitor during the search. The Derry councillor said police cautioned him for assault and obstruction of police officers.
He said his six-year-old son and two-year-old granddaughter as well as his partner were present in the house during the search.
"If this is for Peggy O’Hara I can’t see the logic. I was there. I had no part in organising it. I am not affiliated to the organisation which would have organised that. I was there in a personal capacity and as a public representative to pay my respects. Are they going to do the same with elected representatives who witnessed loyalist rioting or who were present when someone fired shots?" he asked.
Mr Donnelly claimed the search was an attempt to placate political unionism in light of Mrs O’Hara’s funeral.
As the fall-out from the funeral continues, DUP MLA Nelson McCausland has criticised the Catholic Church in Derry, saying he was disappointed that the church failed to condemn the paramilitary trappings.
He said: "The Roman Catholic church cannot simply look the other way and ignore what happened on Saturday in the parish of St Columba’s."
A spokesman for the church said it would not get involved in the debate as none of the incidents occurred on church property.
He said: "Everything was very orderly and as expected in the church grounds and there was nothing unseemly so we are not getting involved in it at all."
