Loyalists in Newtownards, Northern Ireland join protest against 'Irish Sea Border'

Loyalists in Newtownards, Northern Ireland join protest against 'Irish Sea Border'

Loyalists marched in Newtownards, Northern Ireland on Friday June 18, against the so-called Northern Ireland Protocol that they say puts a border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.

Loyalists marched in Newtownards, Northern Ireland on Friday June 18, against the so-called Northern Ireland Protocol that they say puts a border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.

The demonstrations began at five different places, before converging at the town's Blair Mayne statute to end the march together.

The Irish Sea 'border' is a result of the UK's departure from the European Union.

As neither the UK nor Ireland, an EU member, wish to see permanent border infrastructure between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, the EU requires certain checks to be carried out on goods travelling from mainland UK to Northern Ireland, in order to enforce its own rules on what and how goods can enter its territory.

However, Unionists see this as, de facto, putting a border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK, to which they are fiercely loyal.