'KKK' Flag Spotted In East Belfast

A blue Ku Klux Klan flag has been spotted hanging in east Belfast, it has been reported.

The flag, which appears to be in support of the white supremacist organisation, was erected yesterday off Island Street.

The Ku Klux Klan, or KKK, was formed in the latter half of the nineteenth century in the United States and regularly carried out intimidation, harassment, lynchings and murders against African Americans. It also opposed the Civil Rights movement and the end of segregation in the US during the 1950s and '60s.

The erection of the flag in east Belfast follows a number of race-related crimes carried out against ethnic minorities in the area.

Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness tweeted this morning: "So some racist erected a Ku Klux Klan flag in East Belfast - I've no doubt the vast majority of the people there will be disgusted."

Alliance East Belfast MP Naomi Long she had received a number of complaints from constituents regarding the flags, which she has passed to the PSNI for action.

"Yet again we see those who wish to bully anyone different from them use flags and emblems to assert dominance and control over a community. To do so at all is to be condemned but to put up these flags in broad daylight shows just how brazen the culprits are," she said.

"To use flags hailing a hate group such as the KKK is sickening and lends a further menacing element to recent events. It is essential that every right-thinking person unites against those who engage in racist, bigoted or otherwise intolerant behaviour and does so with consistency.

"It is also critical that the all-party talks this week stop ducking the issue of the use and abuse of flags and emblems for the purposes of intimidation, and face up to dealing substantively with this challenge to a shared future and to the rule of law."

(IT/MH)