PROMINENT loyalist Jamie Bryson has said there needs to be a "political solution" to the cause of continuing tensions within the unionism.
Mr Bryson was speaking after series of unnotified loyalist protest parades were held in north Down on Monday.
A recent round of protests have been linked to opposition to the Northern Ireland Protocol, the Bobby Storey funeral last year and claims of two-tier policing.
Hundreds of loyalists took part in four separate parades in Bangor and Newtownards to mark the resumption of protests following the death and funeral of Prince Philip.
Although tensions remain high in loyalist areas the protests in north Down ended peacefully.
During a parade in Newtownards Mr Bryson addressed those attending from the top of a blue bin outside the town's PSNI station.
Speaking to the Irish News last night the leading loyalist said he believed the protests were a success.
"And most important it stayed peaceful and credit to the police, they did it in a proportionate way," he said.
Some loyalists have come in for criticism after a number of protests turned violent earlier this month.
Mr Bryson believes the peaceful outcome on Monday sends out "a message to many people in the unionist and loyalist community who would be turned off by violence."
"We hope these protests stay peaceful, if they descend into violence you lose the support of a large portion of the unionist community," he said.
The series of parades around north Down marked an escalation in the tactic of using bands to take part in unnotified parades linked to the ongoing protests.
Currently anyone wishing to hold a public procession must notify the Parades Commission in advance.
PSNI District Commander for Ards and North Down, Superintendent Brian Kee said "an evidence-gathering operation was in place" on Monday night.
The senior officer also said police "will now review all the footage gathered and consider any suspected breaches of the Public Processions (NI) Act 1998 and the Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) Regulations NI 2020".
However, Mr Bryson disputes there were any breaches and said he is ready to challenge parades legislation.
"If they want a legal confrontation around the parades legislation, which has been an issue for more than two decades, now is certainly the time to hear it," he said.
He said he believes the PSNI are in a "difficult situation" given the way "they handled the Bobby Story funeral".
Mr Bryson said that there will continue to be protests in different areas in the weeks and months ahead.
"I think it's going to be a long, drawn out campaign of protests against the protocol," he said.
However, he did say that loyalists can learn lessons from the flag protests of 2012/23, in which he played a prominent part.
"Protest is a tactic and not an end in of itself," he said.
"Ultimately there has to be a political solution to this."
He said the DUP has a role to play in achieving that.
"What we don't want is the DUP to hide behind the protest movement to get them off the hook," he said.
He also repeated a call to pull down the Stormont institutions.
"The DUP need to heed the message and if we get to the stage to pull down the institutions the necessity for protests would lessen," he said.
