COUNCILLORS in Belfast have backed calls to remove offensive banners and paramilitary flags.
Belfast City Council will take legal action against the Department for Infrastructure, enforcing it to remove banners, after a Sinn Féin motion was passed, with 34 voting for and 18 against.
Ahead of a special meeting last night, the DUP branded the move a "stunt intent on increasing tensions rather than reducing them".
Parachute Regiment flags and banners have appeared in towns across Northern Ireland in recent months in support of 'Soldier F', a former paratrooper who is facing prosecution for the murder of two men on Bloody Sunday in Derry in 1971.
In recent days there have been calls to remove a similar banner strung across Lisburn Road, a main thoroughfare in south Belfast.
The banner, which reads 'Lisburn Road Supports Our Soldiers', was branded "provocative, divisive and intimidating".
Sinn Féin's Ciaran Beattie told the council that banners supporting British regiments were being used "to divide, offend and cause hurt to victims".
"The British Ministry of Defence and the Parachute Regiment do not endorse these flags or banners and have stated they should only be displayed in certain circumstances," he said.
"Re-traumatising victims with offensive displays is wrong and should have no place in our society."
Jim Rodgers of the UUP was among those who voted against the motion saying it was unfortunate the debate was taking place on the anniversary of the Somme while George Dorrian of the DUP said such a "sweeping action" would aggravate tensions.
