Anti-loyalist stickers, which the Sentinel has sourced to a shop run by a Baader-Meinhof supporting Irish republican in Darmstadt, have been described as offensive by DUP Alderman Gary Middleton.

DUP Alderman Gary Middleton said the stickers, featuring a Tricoloured figure kicking a Union Flag coloured figure in the head and two AK47s, are offensive. He said: “They are small stickers but have appeared all over the place, around the Walls, with one appearing at the pedestrian lights at the end of the Peace Bridge. It’s important to stress it’s a very small element that are engaged in this but it’s insensitive and offensive to people coming into the city centre. Taken together with attacks on the Memorial Hall and the theft of the flag from the Cathedral, there’s a danger of creating the impression the city centre is a place that is unwelcoming to members of the community.”

The Sentinel traced the original source of the ‘Good night; Loyalist pride’ stickers to the Irish Rebel Store and Rot Front (Red Front) shop in Darmstadt.

“We are an independent Irish republican store. We are working close together with the Irish Republican Solidarity Germany and the Antifascist Network Group Inter64 Darmstadt. Our work and our shop is strictly antifascist!” it says. It’s run by René Heidisch, who at a Kurdish evening last December, claimed to be a representative of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement. At the meeting he spoke in support of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) who engaged in a bombing campaign against Turkey for much of the past 40 years. He also spoke in support of the Red Army Faction (RAF) - an off-shoot of the Baader-Meinhof Gang, which disbanded in 1998, and Rote Zora - a militant feminist group, which bombed sex shops and industrial interests in the 1970s and 1980s.

Said Heidisch: “In my position as the representative of the Irish Republican Solidarity, Inter 64 and 32CSM, I will send all our best wishes to the political and militant activists of the Kurdish, German and Irish struggle. When the repression state send one PKK, RAF/RZ or IRA activist to jail, they send us all to jail and they don´t mean just one person, they mean all of us!” The Sentinel emailed Heidisch asking if he had any concerns that the Irish Rebel Store stickers are perceived as offensive and intimidating in Londonderry.

The paper also asked what was the nature of the links between the Darmstadt anti-fascist network and the republican movement in Londonderry.

The paper also asked if he sold many units to individuals or groups in Londonderry.

At the time of going to press the paper had not received a reply.

The paper also asked the 32 County Sovereignty Movement in Londonderry if Heidisch is actually a representative of the group.

The paper also asked if it endorsed the sentiments expressed by the stickers, which appear to pit loyalists against republicans.