UNIONIST councillors have faced criticism over their response to Parachute Regiment flags being flown in Derry during the city's recent Bloody Sunday commemorations.
The flags were erected in the loyalist Fountain estate ahead of the 51st anniversary of the killings of 14 people by members of the Parachute Regiment during a Civil Rights march.
At this week's meeting of Derry City and Strabane District Council's Governance and Strategic Planning Committee, Sinn Féin's Christopher Jackson hit out at the flags being erected.
"There was a very small element within the Fountain who were intent to stir up tensions and trouble in the run up to the weekend," he said.
SDLP councillor Brian Tierney, a member of the Bloody Sunday Trust, said: "Those flags should never have gone up and the people who put them up should have known better, but the elected representatives of this chamber who have, I imagine, a little bit of sway within that community and a little bit of standing within that community, should have showed leadership and called for them to be taken down but they didn’t and that is shameful."
DUP Alderman Maurice Devenney responded: "I hear about the lack of leadership in the community but I remind those from the republican community who are on here today when there were Para flags on the bonfire in the Bogside, I didn’t hear anyone complaining very much about them."
He added: "I have said many, many times before, there are many issues around flags and what’s offensive to one isn’t offensive to the other."