The Independent Commission on Policing in Northern Ireland was last night warned of serious unrest in the unionist community if any attempt is made to change the RUC fundamentally.
The commission was holding a public meeting in the Park Avenue Hotel in east Belfast. A number of politicians, including the DUP leader, the Rev Ian Paisley, were present. Four members of the commission, including its chairman, Mr Chris Patten, former governor of Hong Kong, attended.
Dr Paisley accused the British government of treating the RUC disgracefully. The killers of Det Garda Jerry McCabe would not be granted early release in the Republic yet the killers of RUC officers walked the streets of Northern Ireland as free men, he said, to shouts of "shame! shame!" from the audience.
"Tonight, we salute the memories of those gallant RUC men," Dr Paisley said. "We tell their families that we haven't forgotten them. And we tell the commission, `You should keep your hands off the RUC'. "
The DUP leader then warned the commission: "Be careful what you are doing. Your report can rekindle a fire that will not be easily put out."
Ulster Unionist councillor Mr Jim Rodgers warned the commission it would "see the silent majority of Northern Ireland rise in anger if there is a lot of tinkering with the RUC".
The president of the local UUP Association, Capt Bill Henderson, the former proprietor of the News Letter, said the RUC "held the line between civilised society and anarchy". Its morale was being harmed by "politicians of ill-repute".
He urged the commission not to listen to the "civil rightists and human rightists shouting their heads off".
Mr Glynn Roberts of Alliance was booed when he criticised the commission for holding its meeting in a loyalist part of east Belfast that residents from the nationalist Short Strand felt uncomfortable about entering.
He was again heckled when he said there must be "sensible and practical changes" to the RUC. He was hissed when he added that the force must attract more Catholics. "The Provos will shoot them," one man shouted.
A former member of the Royal Navy, Mr Alan Rainey, was also heckled when he asked the commission to investigate the role of freemasons and possible corruption in the RUC.
"Judas!" and "Traitor" was shouted at him.
The commission also held a meeting in Twinbrook, west Belfast, last night.