SDLP calls for investigation into white nationalist group

The SDLP has called on the Human Rights and Equality Commission to investigate the White Nationalist Party, a group which it …

The SDLP has called on the Human Rights and Equality Commission to investigate the White Nationalist Party, a group which it says espouses racist policies and is continuing to organize in Northern Ireland.

In a joint statement, the SDLP's North Antrim representative Mr Sean Farren and councillor Mr Declan O'Loan said the White Nationalist Party has been publicizing itself in the north Antrim area, especially in Ballymena and Ballymoney, should be investigated by the commission.

Mr Farren and Mr O'Loan says the group has links with loyalist organisations and was encouraging paramilitary activities and racist attacks in Northern Ireland.

They claim the group is in breach of Northern Ireland's human rights and equality legislation and "should be declared" illegal.

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The White Nationalist Party is "a self-declared opponent of democracy" and part of a larger "Aryan Unity" group of right-wing organisations, the SDLP men said.

"The White Nationalist Party's racist policies and its exclusive membership conditions fly in the face of human rights and equality legislation," they said.

"According to its website membership is confined to people of European descent. White Nationalist Party's policies are white supremacist, and firmly opposed to multi-racialism," they added.

Both men said they were writing to the commission requesting that action be taken to curb the illegal activities of this party.

The group's website contains an article entitled "Open your eyes to Irish republican lies" in which it claims the IRA has been waging a "genocidal terrorist war against the White British people of Northern Ireland".

The article also refers to Sinn Féin leader, Mr Gerry Adams, as a "slick media manipulating" frontman for mass murder in Northern Ireland.

Eoin Burke-Kennedy

Eoin Burke-Kennedy

Eoin Burke-Kennedy is Economics Correspondent of The Irish Times