UUP MLA Doug Beattie has called banners commemorating the UVF and Glenanne Gang killer Wesley Sommerville "hurtful to victims" and said they should be taken down.

Mr Beattie was speaking after a 64-year-old man was arrested in the Co Tyrone village of Moygashel for trying to remove the banners.

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The man was arrested for a breach of the peace but was later released without charge.

Wesley Somerville was a member of the deadly Glenanne Gang and one of two UVF men who blew themselves up while planting a bomb on the Miami Showband's minibus in 1975.

He was also a member of the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR).

Earlier this week the family of a man's who was killed by the Glenanne Gang said the banner was "hurtful" to the family.

Denise Mullen's father Denis was shot dead by the Glenanne Gang at their home in Moy, Co Tyrone, in 1975 and she said the banner could put her mother in an early grave due to the anguish it caused.

Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph Mr Beattie said that a conversation needed to be had around the issue of commemoration.

"We had a terrible conflict here in the period known as the Troubles and I fully accept there were sides within that both loyalist paramilitaries, state forces and republican paramilitaries and lots of people were killed. There have been lots of innocent victims," he said.

"Everybody has a right to remember their dead, but it has to be done in a sensitive manner where it does not add more hurt to the victims.

"What we're finding in Northern Ireland society is that the perpetrators of the violence are being remembered far more than the victims."

The Upper Bann MLA stressed that both sides of the community needed to tackle the issue.

"In calling for the banners to come down I am not calling for people to not remember their dead or I am not calling on them to forget about their dead, what I'm calling for is for them to not glorify it to the stage where the victims are re-traumatised or hurt even more," Mr Beattie said.

"Sinn Fein as a political party and some republicans really do go out of their way to glorify the actions of terrorists and that has to be condemned in equal measure, so I think that is the catalyst for a conversation, why do we have these commemorations for terrorists while the victims are largely forgotten about?"

In response to Mr Beattie's comments a Sinn Fein spokesperson said that there is no place for paramilitary flags in society.

“Sinn Féin’s position is that flags, emblems and symbols should never be used to intimidate, harass or mark out territory," the spokesperson said.

Expand Close Police placed the man on the ground during the arrest. / Facebook

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Whatsapp Police placed the man on the ground during the arrest.

“As Doug Beattie will know, under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, which his party supported, everyone has a right to remember their dead with dignity and respect.”

Everyone has a right to remember their dead but theses banner are crass, hurtful to the victims and plainly wrong. They should be taken down. #Legacy https://t.co/18JRy8vy7L — Doug Beattie (@BeattieDoug) June 30, 2018

Belfast Telegraph