A Castlederg bandmaster says union flags erected in the town two months ago could be taken down by this weekend as the delay was blamed on a lack of available machinery.
Tensions have been raised in the Co Tyrone town after a threatening sign urging the boycott of businesses was erected due to the “unacceptable” flying of the flags in the town centre.
The PSNI is treating the erection of the sign as a hate incident, while some local businesses have hit out at their targeting in the lead up to Christmas.
One sign calling for a boycott of the local businesses was removed over the weekend, while another was taken down on Monday morning. It’s understood the signs were not removed by the PSNI.
A meeting of local community representatives took place on Monday afternoon in order to address the ongoing tensions within the area.
The issue of the flags was raised by local Sinn Féin councillor Ruairi McHugh at a meeting of Derry City and Strabane District Council last week, who argued it was disrespectful for them to remain for an “unacceptable time frame”.
The flags are erected every September by the Castlederg Young Loyalists Flute Band, and ordinarily are taken down by the end of the month.
Speaking to the Irish News, bandmaster Trevor Donnell says the delay in removing the flags for the last two months was due to a lack of available machinery.
“We were supposed to take them down but the handler machine with the telescopic was away on a building site so we couldn’t get it,” Mr Donnell said.
“Normally they are down at the end of September, but that was why they haven’t been taken down this year.
“From our point of view, they are shouting about how we didn’t get permission to put them up. The question I would have is, did Strabane get permission to put up all the Palestinian flags and tricolours up, because I don’t hear them giving off about that.”
Mr Donnell added that “work is being done in the background” in order to have the flags taken down by this weekend.
On the campaign to boycott businesses in Castlederg over the non-removal of the flags, the band leader says it has done damage to community relations in the town.
“After that sign went up, it left it very awkward for us. The people in our community are saying when people from the other side shout ‘get the flags down’, we jump sort of thing.
“That sign certainly done a lot of damage. It is intimidating for local businesses.
“I can categorically say there were none of the businesspeople involved in putting these flags up, so why target them?
“There was no business involvement in it. And every Protestant business in Castlederg employs people from the Roman Catholic community, so it was very badly worded.
“We don’t want to go back to the bad days where everybody was boycotting everybody around the town.
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“Every business needs both sides of the community to support them to survive.”
The loyalist bandsman added that he believed it was hypocritical for Sinn Féin representatives to criticise the erection of flags when there are republican murals on display in other areas of the town, which he believes to be “intimidating”.
Sinn Féin Derg councillor McHugh called for the removal of the flags in advance of the town’s Christmas lights switch-on event on Friday.
“While very belated, it would be a welcome step if these flags were to come down before the Christmas lights ceremony on Friday evening.
“It’s well past time that political unionism showed some leadership on this issue and I encourage them to work with others to ensure that our town centre becomes a truly shared space.
“The erection of the offensive signs calling for a boycott of local businesses and religious ceremonies evoked disgust in this community. Their prompt removal has been the result of positive leadership. We need the same from political unionism.
“For our part, Sinn Féin is opposed to the flying of all flags from lampposts as a means of marking out territory in any area."
