A radical Irish republican party backed by New IRA prisoners has been launched.
It is the first time the disparate forces of dissident republicanism have united to form a political party, which will stand in elections on a platform of opposing the power-sharing settlement in Northern Ireland.
Saoradh, Irish for liberation, will hold its first ever conference in Newry in South Armagh on Saturday.
The party will organise demonstrations in support of republican prisoners and campaign for an all-Ireland referendum on Irish unity.
It has won the backing of New IRA prisoners at Maghaberry top security prison outside Belfast and other dissident republican inmates.
The formation of Saoradh comes three years after the armed wings of dissident republicanism coalesced to form the New IRA. It is the largest, most active dissident republican paramilitary group opposed to the peace process.
Over the last five years, the New IRA or its forerunners have murdered two prison officers, Robert Black and Adrian Ismay, and the police constable Ronan Kerr.
Saoradh and armed groups, such as the New IRA, regard the power-sharing arrangement at Stormont as a sell-out of traditional republican ideals and a settlement that strengthens British rule in the north-east of Ireland.
