Loyalist paramilitaries have begun a campaign across the North to segregate their jailed members from republicans.
Thousands of Ulster Defence Association flyers demanding segregation for men locked up at the high-security Maghaberry Prison near Lisburn, Co Antrim, wereput up in towns and cities overnight, supporters claimed.
Mr Tommy Kirkham, of the UDA-affiliated Ulster Political Research Group, said: "This is a campaign of non-violence aimed at achieving separation. When the Government is building walls between communities on the outside,why should these men be forced to live together on the inside?"
The move follows a dirty protest staged by dissident republican inmates at the jail, which houses some of Northern Ireland's most notorious terrorists andcriminals.
Prisoners linked to the "Real IRA" and Continuity IRA have been smearing their cell walls with excrement in a bid to force the authorities to move them away from loyalists.
Even though prison bosses have vowed not to give in to the protesters, the loyalist campaign could now intensify the pressure.
The Government has already set up a special review team to examine the difficulties and tensions inside Maghaberry.
But Mr Kirkham insisted the UDA was determined to press ahead with its campaign. "We have loyalists locked in a cell with republicans on either side on dirty protest. They should not have to live in that environment," he said.
PA