Community policing representatives in Northern Ireland are under a new threat from loyalist terrorists, it was revealed today.
Members of the authority in Cookstown, County Tyrone, were warned they faced harassment if controversial Protestant parades in the town are re-routed during the flashpoint marching season.
With republicans also targeting the District Policing Partnership, Mr Patsy McGlone, a nationalist SDLP member, vowed to defy the intimidation.
He said: "We will not be put off our duty by either orange or green fascists."
Police contacted representatives of the DPP, one of 26 set up across Northern Ireland to hold local commanders to account, to tell them of the paramilitary plot.
It comes amid a major effort by security chiefs and community activists to stop violence flaring during volatile band parades this summer.
Although both dissident republicans and the IRA have been blamed for attacking and intimidating DPP members since the bodies were set up under the province's new policing arrangements, the latest threat is regarded as one of the most serious to involve loyalists.
A police service of Northern Ireland spokesman refused to give any details on the case.
He said: "We don't comment on individuals' security. If there's any advice we can give to someone who thinks they are under threat we will do so."
But Mr McGlone challenged the Orange Order, which organises many of Northern Ireland's marches, to condemn the threat against the DPP.
"In instances where threats have been made around parades then quite clearly those associated with the parades and responsible for their organisation should make a very clear stance and repudiate this action from paramilitary organisations," he said.
"I don't know what these people are trying to achieve by it, but all it does is show them up for what they really are: thugs, gangsters and fascists.
"I know there are efforts being made at the moment to try and cool things during the marching season, so goodness only knows what the paramilitaries are trying to achieve. But they will not deter us from our role to ensure proper standards of law and order prevail in the community."