A man who escaped death in an LVF gun attack has said the use of sectarian killer Billy Wright’s image on anti-Irish Sea border posters is an “insult to victims”.
Ruairí Cummings was 17 when gunmen seriously injured his father Christy and killed another man, Seamus Dillon, outside the Glengannon Hotel near Dungannon in 1997.
He was standing just feet away when the shooting, which left his father in a wheelchair, took place.
A former UVF commander in Mid Ulster, Wright went on to establish the LVF.
His units are believed to have been responsible for the sectarian murder of dozens of Catholics in the Mid Ulster area during the Troubles.
The suspected British agent was shot inside the H-Blocks by the INLA in December 1997.
Later that day loyalists carried out the revenge attack at the Glengannon Hotel.
Offensive posters have been placed on lampposts in the Milltown area of Dungannon and include a picture of the Portadown loyalist along with the words "Billy was Wright - No Irish Sea Border".
It is understood similar posters have also appeared in other districts across the north.
Some loyalists have been involved in a campaign to oppose the Northern Ireland Protocol, which effectively created a border down the Irish Sea.
Mr Cummings, who has campaigned on behalf of his family, last night criticised the use of Wright’s image.
“I find this very inappropriate and it’s an insult to victims across the board,” he said.
“At the end of the day the LVF killed Catholics and Protestants.”
Mr Cummings said any posters put up on Department for Infrastructure property should be removed.
“I would ask the Department for Infrastructure to act immediately to take these posters of a sectarian mass murderer down,” he said.
“They do no good for any community.
“In a modern society people want to live in peace.”
A spokesman for the Department for Infrastructure said: “The Department has just become aware that these posters have been displayed on DfI streetlight columns and is now liaising with the PSNI.”
Mid Ulster SDLP councillor Malachy Quinn condemned the posters.
"But when you are putting up posters of loyalist murderers and telling us he was right, what message are you sending out?” he said.
