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Belfast Live
Belfast Live
National
Brendan Hughes

Bonfire groups won't engage with police after Bobby Storey funeral probe outcome

Loyalist bonfire groups have said they will not engage with police this summer in protest over the Bobby Storey funeral probe resulting in no prosecutions.

Some bonfire builders in Belfast, Moygashel in Co Tyrone and Derry said online they will refuse to liaise with community policing teams about their plans.

A post on a Facebook page for a bonfire in Tigers Bay in North Belfast said they were taking a stand against "two-tier policing".

"After hearing about how the PSNI disgracefully handled the funeral of IRA man Bobby Storey, the community of Tigers Bay feel it is only right not to engage with community police teams regarding our July 11 bonfire celebrations," they said.

"We feel a trust between the PSNI and ourselves has been broken."

They expressed anger that Sinn Fein representatives involved in the senior IRA man's funeral in West Belfast last June could "undermine the government rules without facing prosecution".

"Us as unionists have had enough. We stand together with fellow bonfire builders in Moygashel and Nelson Drive, Londonderry."

Police have defended their handling of the republican funeral, with Chief Constable Simon Byrne blaming Stormont's "confusing and inconsistent" coronavirus laws for scuppering prosecutions.

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