WP condemns Harryville picket

The Northern Ireland Workers' Party has called for sectarianism to be made a criminal offence after loyalists resumed their picket…

The Northern Ireland Workers' Party has called for sectarianism to be made a criminal offence after loyalists resumed their picket of a Catholic church in Harryville, Ballymena, Co Antrim, on Saturday night. Mr Tommy Owens, the party's Northern secretary, said the new Northern Ireland human rights commission had a major part to play in "eradicating this sort of gross sectarianism". "The commission's Bill of Rights must ensure that sectarian symbols, slogans and provocations are outlawed and penalties are imposed on individuals and organisations organising them."