A Sinn Fein member of Magherafelt District Council has apologised to Protestants in Maghera and Swatragh for "wanton acts of sectarian vandalism" by nationalists on the night of July 6th, after the Orange parade was forced down the Garvaghy
Road in Portadown.
Mr John Kelly, in a statement yesterday, said that such actions were anti-
social, antidemocratic and anti-republican.
"To deliberately target the homes and property of your neighbour on the basis of their religious convictions is anathema to republicans and besmirches the republican ideal of 'Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter' living on this or any other part of the island under the common name of Irishman.
"To make of ourselves a mirror image of the sectarian bigotry under which we so long suffered and which we so long strove to eradicate, is to diminish, to distract and more importantly to detract from our goal of the ideal society in which parity of esteem is the bedrock."