PSNI deny U-turn over flag policy on Belfast's Ormeau Road

Last summer, the PSNI said it would treat the erection of flags in the mixed nationalist and unionist area as a breach of the peace

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has denied a U-turn over its response to the flying of unionist flags on the Ormeau Road in Belfast.

Last summer, the PSNI said it would treat the erection of flags in the mixed area as a breach of the peace.

But this year it said it is an issue for the local community to resolve.

Their statement said flag removal was not a PSNI responsibility and they will only act to remove flags where there are substantial risks to public safety.

The PSNI's Belfast commander Ch Supt Nigel Grimshaw told the BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme that clearer legislation on flags was needed.

Over the last week, union flags and Northern Ireland flags have been erected on alternating lampposts along a stretch of the Ormeau Road.

The area used to have a Protestant majority but the most recent census showed almost 57% of people living there now Catholic while 27% are Protestant.

Alliance councillor Emmet McDonagh Brown said his constituents in the area wanted to know why the police appeared to have reversed last year's policy and had not stopped the erection of the flags this week.

"Very often the people who erect flags are happier to do it under the cover of darkness rather than in the transparency of the day," the councillor said.

"It just contributes to a sense that it's done without community consultation, without seeking the support of people who live in the area and it's something that is not universally welcomed."

But Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) councillor Christopher Stalford called for tolerance and "cool heads".

"Ballynafeigh is a settled, mixed community. Now, if those words are to mean anything, its means that the unionist community in that part of the town is able to manifest their culture and their identity, as it their tradition, during the months of July and of August.

"If the flags are not of a paramilitary nature, then I don't see how any reasonable person could object."

Ch Supt Nigel Grimshaw told Good Morning Ulster that the resolution of flag disputes in Northern Ireland "lies well outside the gift of policing" and was a problem for all of society to address.

"It is not a straightforward matter where we can designate an area and say that, to do something there is automatically a breach of the peace,. It's is not that simple."

The officer added: "Where there is a real serious risk to public safety police, of course, will act to intervene.

"Our job is to keep is to keep people safe and we will do that, but what I am also making clear is that the legislation around this is absolutely not specific.

"In fact, we have to draw on a range of pieces of legislation which are not particularly designed to deal with the issues of flags."