THE DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has said he backs the PSNI to use "whatever means necessary" to stop "masked gangsters" plaguing communities in Northern Ireland.
He made the comments after a week of sustained violence in north Down attributed to a drugs feud among expelled members of the UDA, and a shooting in west Belfast on Thursday night.
DUP peer Nigel Dodds has also tabled a series of amendments in the House of Lords to make glorifying terrorism an offence, which he said was being used in Northern Ireland as "the green light to carry out violence".
This week, the terrorism threat level in Northern Ireland was also raised to severe after the shooting of Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell in Omagh last month.
The dissident republican group the New IRA has claimed responsibility for the attack, with police arresting two men on Thursday.
Sir Jeffrey said: “There is only one police force in Northern Ireland. Criminal gangs meting out their own kangaroo court justice have no place on our streets.
"I have assured the chief constable that the PSNI has my full support in removing these criminals from society and placing them behind bars."
He added: "There should be no illegal guns on our streets, whether that is in Newtownards or west Belfast. The police have my support to use whatever means necessary to rid our streets of these drug dealing, gun-toting, knife-wielding masked gangsters who are a plague in their communities.”
I have assured the Chief Constable that the PSNI has my full support in removing these criminals from society and placing them behind bars.@J_Donaldson_MP https://t.co/T2sPyPyaH9
— DUP (@duponline) March 31, 2023
On Thursday, police made four further arrests after a gathering of masked men in Newtownards.
It followed 11 attacks on homes in Newtownards, Bangor, Ballywalter and Donaghadee in a dispute linked to rival loyalist factions.
As well as multiple petrol bomb and brick attacks, one incident included a pipe bomb attack on a house that had four children inside.
The Loyalist Communities Council, who represent the views of the UVF, UDA and Red Hand Commando, had remained silent on the attacks until Thursday when they said the attacks were the “work of competing drug cartels”.
Tabling amendments to the British Government's Legacy Bill, Lord Dodds used the opportunity to heavily criticise Sinn Féin members holding memorials to former IRA members.
"The glorification of terrorism has become a very real issue in Northern Ireland, with the rising tide of people engaged in such activity," he said.
"We have seen sickening videos of many young people, born long after the ceasefires and the Belfast agreement, revelling in glorifying IRA terrorism. This is causing real concern that there seems to be a sanitisation of the IRA’s murderous campaign."
He referenced previous comments by Sinn Féin vice President Michelle O'Neill, who had said she did not believe there was an alternative to the IRA's armed campaign during the Troubles, and GAA clubs who were "commemorating IRA terrorists on their property."
"This is doing absolutely nothing for people’s faith in the restoration of the devolved administration at Stormont," he said.
"There is a very toxic situation in Northern Ireland at the moment, and there are many examples where those elected to the Stormont assembly are acting in a way which is stoking the flames of sectarianism and glorifying violence."
He said the recent escalation of the terror threat level and the attempted murder of DCI Caldwell were "reminders that the eulogising of murder and bloodshed will inevitably be taken by others as the green light to carry out violence".
