KowalskiL NEW legislation setting out the rules on parades and protests would be a "catastrophic backward step", the TUV has said.
Responding to a consultation exercise on the planned Draft Code of Conduct on Parading, the party's leader, Jim Allister, said that the proposed structures to replace the Parades Commission were behind schedule.
On the Hillsborough Agreement timetable, the bill should now have completed its second stage in the assembly, he said.
He added: "We recognise that some probably see cover and advantage for their own brand of politics in these proposals: the message from its authors to parade organisers is 'as we collaborate in government with IRA/Sinn Fein, so you likewise must collaborate with them on the streets', giving its own cover to their nefarious coalition with the forces of evil."
Meanwhile, the Community Relations Council (CRC) has broadly welcomed the new code of conduct but said that it needs to be more "user-friendly".
The group argued that the draft code was a "complex system of guidance".
It welcomed the fact that the code "recognises the need, in areas of sensitivity, for parade and protest organisers and participants not to use words or actions which are threatening or sectarian, or wear clothing or uniforms or carry flags which have paramilitary associations".
But it added: "CRC is concerned that the draft code should not be a regression from the current code of the Parades Commission, which imposes restrictions on paramilitary displays and its associated dress, flags and musical instruments 'at any time' during a public procession."
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