Anti-abortion campaigner Bernadette Smyth of Precious Life has been reported to the police after brandishing a poster picturing former Alliance Party Justice Minister David Ford alongside Adolf Hitler.

The campaigner was picketing the east Belfast offices of Alliance leader Naomi Long and colleague Chris Lyttle, who are both candidates in the Assembly election.

'A vote for the Alliance Party is a vote for the killing of unborn children' the campaigner said in a tweet featuring a photo of the protest.

In response, Mrs Long described Mrs Smyth as "a self-serving attention-seeker".

"Precious Life are appalling," she former East Belfast MP tweeted

"Their comparison of David to Hitler, harassment of women at clinics and use of children in campaigns is vile."

Human rights activist and anti-Semitism campaigner Gary Spedding revealed he had reported the pro-life crusader to the police and the Community Security Trust, a charity established in the 1990s to ensure the safety and security of the UK's Jewish community.

Mr Spedding told the Belfast Telegraph: "This kind of comparison both denies and trivialises the Nazi Holocaust in which six million Jewish people were murdered.

"It also retraumatises Jewish people and communities. It's a vile thing to do."

An Alliance Party spokesman told the Belfast Telegraph: "No matter your view on the issue of abortion, for Precious Life to attempt to equate individuals with the worst horrors of the Nazi regime is disgusting, immoral and anti-Semitic.

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"We hope Bernie Smyth will reflect on her actions before attempting further similar stunts in future. But, in all honesty, we are not hopeful."

Mrs Smyth did not respond to a request for comment.

Belfast Telegraph