THE Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) yesterday condemned "vigilante behaviour" leading to the recent murders in Northern Ireland and stressed that such issues should he left to the forces of law and order.
Mr David Ervine of the PUP laid he was concerned at sports that a group called the Protestant Action Force had a list of nine men and one woman which it said it was going to "deal with".
These reports had sprung up ever the Christmas, he said, that he feared this group, gas to be a "mirror of other vigilante" coups.
He said his party did not agree with capital punishment; in any form or, under any circumstances, with summary justice.
"We refute any notion of capital punishment, whether it be by the state or by those who feel it is their right to do so. It is our view that there should be no summary justice," Mr Ervine said.
There was no room for vigilante behaviour in Northern Ireland, he said, adding: "Those issues have to be dealt with by the designated forces of law and order."
He believed drugs were a serious problem in Northern Ireland - it was not yet as had as in the Republic, but it was certainly getting worse. "Some of the drugs groups have been challenging the paramilitaries and that is a dangerous thing to do," he said.
Asked about the recent murders claimed by the Direct Action Against Drugs group, Mr Ervine said there was no way the taking of life could be justified.
"I think there may be some cases in the republican movement where the lunatics have found themselves in charge of the asylum," he said. "There are obviously people who are very difficult to hold back and they have managed to steal the march on those who believe that Northern Ireland should have a peaceful future.
"We are very worried about the timing. We think the timing leaves the republican movement open to severe ridicule."