Northern Ireland

Row over calls for civil disobedience if hard border imposed

Veteran socialist Eamonn McCann has hit back at DUP MP Gregory Campbell
Veteran socialist Eamonn McCann has hit back at DUP MP Gregory Campbell Veteran socialist Eamonn McCann has hit back at DUP MP Gregory Campbell

VETERAN socialist Eamonn McCann has rejected claims by a DUP politician he is being "reckless" by encouraging civil disobedience in the event of a hard border.

He hit back after DUP East Derry MP Gregory Campbell accused him of "inflaming tensions".

Mr McCann had been speaking in a BBC radio interview after being elected to Derry City and Strabane District Council and said that his party People Before Profit would support civil disobedience "if there is a hard border".

Reacting to the interview, Mr Campbell said: "This is a reckless and dangerous statement to make. Everyone from Juncker and Varadkar to May have accepted that there will not be any so called hard border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic. The geography and terrain makes it an utter impossibility for such an outcome to materialise."

However in response Mr McCann told The Irish News that he "does not believe Brexit is going to happen at all" and accused Mr Campbell of having a "hard neck in accusing anyone else of being reckless."

"But if in the unlikely event Brexit does happen and they stick customs posts up on the border there is no doubt there will be considerable discontent - not just from the nationalist side," he said.

"If the Tories and DUP hadn't been so reckless with our politics...if they allow this to happen they are risking peace. There will be bother."