Sir, - We write to protest against the assault on the home of SDLP Councillor Hugh Lewsley, following his appearance on Tuesday night's Channel 4 "War Cries" documentary. As the makers of this film, we are disgusted at the price Lewsley paid for his contribution. At a moment when there is such a demand for discussion and dialogue in Northern Ireland (with which we agree), it is ironic in the extreme that an elected politician should be attacked for airing his opinions.
Irrespective of whether these assaults on Hugh Lewsley are organised (and we suspect they are), they are symptomatic of the climate of intimidation and terror created in no small part by some of those who wish to be a party to the talks. Hugh Lewsley has never done anything other than defend the human rights of his constituents. We must all defend his rights and the rights of all those who, like him, continue to argue for a genuine democracy here.
Surely, history has shown that we tolerate or ignore such attacks at our peril. We call on all political leaders in Britain and Ireland to do their utmost to prevent such outrages occurring in the future. - Yours, etc.,
Lower Windsor Avenue,
Belfast.