THE DUP has broken its silence on loyalists' plans for a march through a mixed community to glorify UDA members linked to numerous Troubles murders.
In a statement the party did not refer specifically to the south Belfast parade, but said it "condemns all those who cling to criminality and violence".
Now in its fourth year, tomorrow's march takes place just days before the 23rd anniversary of the killing of Joe Bratty and Raymond Elder.
The pair were linked to a gun attack on Sean Graham bookmakers along the same street in 1992 in which five Catholics were killed.
Loyalist paramilitary flags have been flown from lampposts on Blackwood Street where the parade is due to begin.
The Parades Commission has banned the march from several streets including Ormeau Road.
In its ruling, the parades body said it had received "strong representation opposed to the parade's purpose and associations with the UDA".
Asked on Tuesday for a comment from its South Belfast MP Emma Little Pengelly or MLA Christopher Stalford, the DUP did not respond.
But in a statement yesterday, a party spokeswoman said: "Paramilitaries should have disappeared from the scene long ago. The DUP condemns all those who cling to criminality and violence.
"Flags or any other emblems supporting paramilitaries have no place in our communities. We want to have them all removed."
The party declined to issue a comment specifically from Ms Pengelly or Mr Stalford.
It follows criticism of the elected representatives over their response to concerns about a loyalist bonfire that damaged an apartment block.
Ms Pengelly also faced a backlash last month after saying most people "didn't want a public fuss" about UVF flags erected in a cross-community housing development. She later said she opposes paramilitary flags.
Bratty and Elder were shot dead by the Provisional IRA on Ormeau Road on July 31, 1994.
The parade was first held in 2014 after the Housing Executive spent £11,000 building a memorial beside its flats on Candahar Street.
In previous years a temporary plaque bearing Bratty and Elder's names has been fixed to the monument.
The Housing Executive has said it was intended as a First World War memorial garden, but has rejected calls to remove the structure.
The latest march is expected to involve about a dozen bands.
The organiser told the Parades Commission the event was to commemorate local people killed in both world wars and during the Troubles, and would involve a tribute to Bratty and Elder at the memorial garden.