A VOTE for Sinn Fein "will be seen by me and by others as a vote which sanctions the murder of one's Protestant neighbours", the UUP candidate in West Tyrone, Mr Willie Thompson, said yesterday.
Any repeat of the vote Sinn Fein received in the Forum elections would generate "bitterness and distrust" which would in turn impede "real political progress, economic opportunity and social accommodation in Northern Ireland".
On the burning of churches, Mr Thompson said: "We condemn and deplore this activity. We want it to stop now. We want information on anyone who is known to be involved to be handed over to the police immediately. We want to maintain a policy of civil and religious liberty for all."
He said the leadership of "Sinn Fein/IRA" had done "absolutely nothing to prepare for any move away from dependence on violence and the threat of violence as a core element in its strategy. It has not attempted to condition its `rank and file' for any move from violence to the democratic."
The UUP did not in any way condone loyalist violence, he said. "That applies to all aspects from murder to beatings to what is happening at Harryville to recent sectarian rioting and especially to the burning of chapels."