Alliance Party Councillor Naomi Long has said the police need the support of the community in East Belfast if it wants to beat the threat of loyalist violence.
Cllr Long was speaking after another weekend of bloodshed in her constituency, including the shooting of a man outside a Castlereagh Road pub in the early hours of Sunday morning, believed to be the result of fighting between loyalist gangs. Three men were also subjected to paramilitary shootings on Saturday evening in Kyle Street.
Condemning the incidents, Cllr Long said: “After so many deaths in recent months caused by loyalist feuding, the vast majority of decent people in East Belfast are now fearful that the violence is starting again.
“How loyalist political representatives can continue to declare that paramilitary organisations they are linked to are on ceasefire is open to question. I would call on all these groups to give the people of East Belfast a break by ending their violence now.
“I would also appeal to anyone with information about the attacks to pass it on to the PSNI, so that the forces of law and order can take the appropriate action.”