"Last Thursday Loyalists threatened to kill IRSP Ard Comhairle Kevin McQuillan. Over the past weekend Party members in Ardoyne reported sightings of known loyalists outside their homes.

"At 10:15am yesterday another senior member of our Party observed two men acting suspiciously around where he had parked his vehicle near Belfast city centre. The car in which these men were travelling, a white Ford escort, was then followed onto the Shankill Road.

"Yesterday, Loyalists also attempted to murder Bawnmore Catholic Kevin Delaney.

"Loyalists are clearly targeting members of the IRSP and Catholic civilians in an attempt to provoke the INLA into retaliatory actions.

"Against a back-drop of Orange intransigence on Marching consensus - the possibility of the Bosnian scenario feared by Brendan McAllister (Mediation Network) comes ever closer."