UNIONIST leaders who helped negotiate the Good Friday Agreement have penned an open letter calling for the Northern Ireland Protocol to be suspended.
Included among the eight signatories, in the letter to European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic and the British and Irish governments, are former Ulster Unionist leaders David Trimble and Reg Empey.
Loyalist leaders from the time who signed the letter include Gary McMichael and Billy Hutchinson.
They have said that the mechanism, which effectively creates a border down the Irish Sea, goes against the wishes of unionists in Northern Ireland and "disrespects the territorial integrity of the United Kingdom."
The development came as loyalists said more protest parades had been planned for the coming weeks.
Prominent north Down loyalist Jamie Bryson last night said momentum around protests will grow in the coming weeks.
Loyalists are angry at the Northern Ireland Protocol, how the Bobby Story funeral was handled last year and claims of two-tier policing have been made.
Several well attended protest parades have been held across the north this week.
A large crowd is expected to take part in an un-notified parade in Antrim tonight while on Thursday hundreds marched through Carrickfergus in Co Antrim accompanied by a band.
Some of those who took part in the large procession were masked while others carried union flags.
In relation to the Carrickfergus parade a spokesman for the PSNI said: “Organisers of parades are required to give formal notification of their intentions. A number of warnings were given to participants, and an evidence-gathering operation was in place."
A similar parade in Markethill in Co Armagh Wednesday also attracted a large crowd.
A spokesman for the Parades Commission last night said none of the processions have been notified to it.
Markethill has been the location of several similar parades in recent weeks.
Those attending the protest earlier this week were addressed by Mr Bryson.
Speaking to the Irish News last night he said the peaceful protests have encouraged attendance.
Mr Bryson said he expects the pace of protests to pick up in the coming weeks.
"We are heading into the marching season so it's understandable the momentum will only keep growing and building," he said.
"There will be a campaign of protest that will grow incrementally and in intensity - this is not going away until the Northern Ireland Protocol goes away."
