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Exclusive: Far-right Loyalist Defence League flogs terror trinkets ‘for the NHS’

Police launch probe of group’s Ulster Defence Association flag sales

A FAR-RIGHT group operating in Scotland has been condemned for exploiting the coronavirus by attempting to use social media to sell terrorist merchandise to “raise funds for the NHS.” 

The Loyalist Defence League (LDL) has been removed by social media platform Facebook after posting content which breached community standards by showing “support or praise for terrorist organisations.” 

Organisers from the LDL posted photographs of flags with the logo of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) printed on them, which they were offering for sale on their page. 

The post, which has also been removed, said 40 per cent of the flag price, understood to have been less than £20, would be “donated to the NHS,” and showed more than 50 items for sale.

The UDA has been a proscribed terrorist organisation in Britain since 1992, and was reportedly responsible for about 400 deaths as part of an armed campaign to combat republicanism in Ireland during the Troubles. 

Members of the LDL have previously said a return to violence in Ireland “may be necessary” and joined groups like the National Front and Scottish Defence League in vilifying Islam.

The LDL has been condemned for its actions, with questions asked about its participation in right-wing protests against a Bloody Sunday memorial march earlier this year, which saw two people arrested and one police officer injured. 

Campaigners against anti-Irish racism in Scotland warned the targeting of the Irish community in Scotland by far-right and loyalist groups was an “increasing and worrying development.” 

A spokesperson for Call it Out told the Star: “Racist, supremacist groups such as this one are a threat to the security and well-being of members of the multi-generational Irish/Irish-Catholic community in Scotland.  

“To have them selling their ‘memorabilia’ allegedly in support of the NHS is an insult to all those of our community who are currently working so hard and so selflessly for everyone in this country.”

Other groups have also slammed the LDL’s support for terrorist groups and its attempts to use the NHS to drum up interest. 

Unite Against Fascism’s Weyman Bennett said: “We oppose all far-right and fascist groups attempting to exploit the present crisis to [widen] divisions, which are both sectarian and racist. 

“If you organise around division we will lose our ability to fight against the coronavirus. Let us oppose the virus and the virus of racism and sectarianism at the same time.”

David Ibsen of the Counter Extremism Project added: “It’s particularly distasteful that the LDL is  exploiting the coronavirus and the needs of the NHS to sell merchandise and spread the ideology of a terrorist organisation.

“There is no excuse for allowing organisations or their members to continue to promote their extremist views online.”

The Morning Star understands the images of the merchandise and offer to the public have now been passed to the police, who are investigating the matter. 

Following its removal from Facebook, the LDL posted about the ban on Twitter, promising followers the group would “be back.” 

The LDL told the Morning Star: “We as an organisation stand by no direct affiliation to either the UVF or UDA.” It claimed that the removal of its Facebook page was an attack on freedom of speech.

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