MEMBERS of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement yesterday held a protest against a new mural of Ulster Unionist leader Edward Carson in west Belfast.
More than 20 people protested against the mural on the International Wall on the Falls Road which depicts Carson during the Home Rule crisis in 1912.
The artwork also shows images of UVF gun-running.
The mural, painted as part of a display marking the events leading up to the 1916 Easter Rising, was paint-bombed earlier this week.
The mural replaced an image of IRA man Kieran Nugent who started the blanket protest in the H-blocks in 1976.
Carson led unionist opposition to Home Rule and was the first person to sign the 1912 Ulster Covenant.
In the same year, he also established the Ulster Volunteers, later the UVF, to block Home Rule.
Sinn Féin MLA Fra McCann said those involved in the protest were "out of touch".
He said the new mural was supported "by the vast majority of people from the local area".
"Many of the groups and organisations who had murals on the wall gave up their spaces temporarily as they recognise the importance of marking the centenary of the Easter Rising," he said.
"The muralist, the internationally respected Danny Devenney, has already given assurances this mural will be on display during the centenary celebrations and that the previous murals will be reinstated following that.
"The shortsightedness of the handful of protestors in opposing this mural shows how out of touch they are with the views of the vast majority of local people who support the mural and the wider commemorations."
