Parties unite in condemnation of bullet threat to SF man

On Tuesday morning, staff in the Sinn Fein constituency office in Dunloy opened a package addressed to Mr Mullan and discovered a bullet and a card on which was written “Loyalist Action Force”.

The politician, who said he handed over the items to PSNI detectives for forensic examination, declared that he would not be intimidated and challenged those who sent the bullet to him to a public debate.

Meanwhile, fellow politicians have joined in lambasting the ominous threat as an attack on democracy.

Alliance councillor John Mathews pointed up the irony of the news on the same day that the Queen began an historic visit to Dublin.

“It is absolutely ludicrous: I have been watching the coverage of the Queen’s first visit to the Republic and demonstrations by republicans in Dublin and here are loyalists sending a bullet to Oliver McMullan.

“The sooner we all grow up and see to it that this a better place for our children to live in the better.”

Ulster Unionist MLA Roy Beggs Jnr said the threat was “deeply regrettable”. He added: “Politicians can disagree, but as democrats we have to accept the democratic outcome. There is no place for violence or threat of violence within our community and if anybody knows anything about who might be the cause of this I would urge them to pass the information on to the police.”

His Assembly colleague Stewart Dickson (Alliance) said: “It is appalling that someone would do something like this. Elected representatives should be able to go about their daily work without fear or intimidation.”

Cllr Gregg McKeen said: “It is disappointing that this has happened and the DUP condemns it out of hand.”

He added: “The people who did this don’t speak for anybody: not decent unionists and loyalists, the vast majority of whom showed at the recent elections that this is not the road they want to go down.”

SDLP councillor Martin Wilson also condemned the bullet threat, adding: “This does not serve any purpose, it does not move society forward, there is no need for it and I condemn it.”

Oliver McMullan said: “This was an attack not just on me, but on democracy and on the peace process and it is not what the people of East Antrim want. They indicated what they want at the elections just past when they returned Sinn Fein to an Assembly seat and to Larne Borough Council for the first time.

“This will certainly not deter me from doing what I was elected to do.”

He accused the perpetrators of “living in the past” and challenged them: “Come out and state in public what is behind all this and maybe we can find some consensus and move forward.”

Mr McMullan claimed: “They are trying to instill fear back into the nationalist and republican people of East Antrim because they see that people are moving along the democratic line.”

The Larne Times reported on May 5 that the breakaway Loyalist Action Force apparently said it was responsible for a hoax bomb alert at Glenlough community centre, where a 1981 hunger strikes exhibition was on show.

The LAF had also claimed that republican dissidents were on a “death list”.