Diane Dodds, DUP European Candidate has said that the people of Northern Ireland demand swift justice be visited upon the dissident Republican groups responsible for the death of two soldiers and a policeman over the last three days. Mrs. Dodds said:
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of those so callously cut down by evil and wicked criminals over the last three days. Constable Stephen Paul Carroll, Sapper Mark Quinsey and Sapper Patrick Azimkar were brave and dedicated men who were serving our community. The criminals who murdered them were cowardly animals who lured them to their deaths and then slunk away into the shadows of the night.
The families and friends of those three brave men will, like the whole of Northern Ireland, remember them as heroes, the people who killed them will be remembered with universal revulsion and loathing. They are beneath contempt. I have no compunction whatsoever in saying that the Chief Constable needs to be given all the resources that he needs to crush these evil dissident republican groups.
All political parties have a moral imperative to support the Chief Constable in gaining access to the resources that he needs to wipe these groups out and end their capacity to murder innocent people in the way that they have over recent days. The public are utterly disgusted at the efforts of the murderers in these criminal gangs to pull Northern Ireland back into the dark days of the past. They want to see these criminals brought to justice swiftly and sent to prison for the rest of their lives. For our part, the DUP will continue to support the efforts of the police to stamp these groups out permanently.
We will not allow criminal thugs to destabilise and destroy the democratic institutions of Northern Ireland. Just as we faced down terrorism in the past, I believe we will do so again. These terrorists will quickly learn that Ulster people will not be bullied or brow-beaten by them. With such overwhelming opposition to these evildoers, it is paramount that the entire community assists the police and bring the perpetrators to justice.”