Speaking after trouble erupted in areas of Belfast and Derry last night, PBP MLA Gerry Carroll said:
“Unionism is in a state of crisis and as usual the working class are suffering. Young people in particular are useful pawns for the leaders of a Unionist establishment who stoke division to deflect from their own colossal failures, before washing their hands of it when trouble flares.
“Ordinary people have been failed and are angry. But the loyalist violence we saw last night only serves to direct this anger in through a sectarian prism, further dividing communities and making matters demonstratively worse, precisely when we so desperately need working class unity.
“Establishment politicians jump to issue hollow words of condemnation by night, all the while courting paramilitaries by day— presiding over state sponsored sectarianism and creating the conditions of poverty and inequality that ensures communal division thrives.
“Stormont has failed working people right across the communal divide. They have failed to deal with unemployment, marginalisation, and have presided over a disastrous pandemic response. Despite massive sacrifices from communities to stop the spread of the virus, the Executive have squandered opportunities to achieve elimination, blaming everyone else for the deadly results. The DUP are among the chief forces in this rank hypocrisy and, once again, they have turned to sectarianism to try to save their own political skin.
“Now more than ever we need working class unity against sectarian division, in Belfast, Derry and everywhere else.”
