Letter: Ulster vigilantes

Sir: I am puzzled. It is debatable whether the current spate of beatings, intimidation and expulsions from Northern Ireland should count as violations of the ceasefire but, if they do, it is clear from the figures you quote from the Northern Ireland Human Rights Bureau that loyalist paramilitaries are as much in breach of the ceasefire as republicans.

In this context it has been the Unionists who have posed as the champions of peace and democracy. In that case why have they not denounced these loyalist crimes as vigorously as they have attacked Sinn Fein and the IRA? And what are they doing to put a stop to them? It is extraordinary that they are being allowed to get away with such blatant double standards.

ANTHONY ARBLASTER

Sheffield