ULSTER Unionist MP Tom Elliott has hit out at plans to screen a movie about IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands branding it divisive.
Mr Elliott, the MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone - where Sands was famously elected in 1981 - said a decision to screen the movie in Enniskillen was "in bad taste".
The documentary 'Bobby Sands: 66 Days' charts the days leading up to the death of the 27-year-old in the Maze prison May 5, 1981.
A special screening will take place tomorrow night at the Kennedy Centre in west Belfast as part of the Belfast Film Festival in partnership with Féile an Phobail.
Written and directed by Ardoyne-born Brendan J Byrne it will be shown at IMC Cinema, Enniskillen from next Friday, August 5 for at least a week and has been advertised on the Fermanagh South Tyrone Sinn Féin Facebook page as an event 'not to be missed'.
Mr Elliott has said the decision to screen the Bobby Sands film in Enniskillen was "not in good taste".
"He was a terrorist and a criminal and I don't think it is in good taste showing it in Enniskillen, but obviously that's a decision for the company.
"He created huge divisions when he was alive, clearly it's going to be the same now again," Mr Elliott said.
The UUP MP said the documentary was opening up old wounds in a county deeply affected by the Troubles.
"It's just unfortunate such a divisive issue is raised in the town of Enniskillen where the IRA murdered civilians in the poppy day bomb of 1987, " he said
"Obviously the IRA caused major heartache to many families in Enniskillen and Fermanagh. I don't think it's helpful that those people have to live through that again," he added.
This is the not first time Mr Elliott has voiced his opposition as two weeks ago he criticised the reported tens of thousands of pounds Northern Ireland Screen and the BBC handed to the project.
The DUP has also criticised the project, with MP Sammy Wilson saying the film was "stirring the pot" about the past.
The documentary is to be shown at almost 30 cinemas across Ireland.
