A UDA gang involved in a feud in North Down has said the dispute will not come to an end until 20 people – named on a list handed over to a restorative justice group – leave Northern Ireland.
The list – including Loyalist leader Adrian Price – comes with an ultimatum that they must leave their homes or face an escalation in violence.
To date, more than a dozen homes have been attacked.
On Thursday, 20 masked men were seen on the streets of Newtownards, close to the residential area of Weavers Grange which was at the center of the trouble.
Police arrested one man at the scene and three more in a follow-up action.
Among those forced to leave the area is Ryan “Buster” Johnston, Price’s son, who has no paramilitary convictions.
Price’s home on the West Winds estate in Newtownards was attacked at the start of the feud which has now entered its second week.
Former members of the South East Antrim UDA, Price’s gang of around 50 men, were expelled from the organization earlier this month.
They have since come under attack from a loyalist faction calling themselves the North Down UFF, previously affiliated with the mainstream UDA.
They come under the leadership of convicted blackmailer Dickie Barry.
The threats against 20 people allegedly associated with the South East Antrim UDA faction follow an incident at a shopping center in Newtownards on Friday when members of the breakaway faction attacked a rival loyalist in front of horrified fulfilled customers.
It is said that up to four men attacked one of Barry’s crew. They fled in a car that was intercepted by police.
It was reported earlier this week that the former SEA UDA faction refused to leave North Down, saying they would fight back instead.
Members of the loyalist faction, who were accused of selling heroin, said they will not leave their homes and warned any further violence would be met with “eye for an eye” retaliation.
The North Down UDA has now said the gang led by Price “has no historic presence in the local area”, adding that it “played no role during the conflict and has never been recognized in Ards and North Down, nor by our group nor by our group.” any other loyalist organisation”.
The statement adds that “initial steps have been taken to remove this gang from the area. In response, they launched an indiscriminate bomb attack on the family home of a completely innocent and uninvolved relative of an area loyalist.”
This is a reference to a pipe bomb attack last week on the home of a relative of Dickie Barry.
The feud has escalated into tit-for-tat bouts.
Two men, Stephen Daniel McKeag and Robert Montgomery, appeared in court this week.
The pair, both 30, deny involvement in a petrol bomb attack on a property in Moyne Gardens last Sunday.
The North Down UDA said: “We have made it clear that there is a list of individuals, whose names have been provided through restorative justice organisations, who will never be safe in the local community and whose permanent departure will bring this dispute to an end.”
The statement added: “We will not target or attack innocent persons.
“Our dispute is with the crime gang and more specifically their so-called leadership.”
The Barry gang also said the way to end the feud was for the faction “which had bunkered down in Weavers Grange and now calling itself RUFF (Real UFF) to leave the area”.
A PSNI spokesman said: “We are not discussing the safety of individuals and no conclusions should be drawn from this.
“However, if we receive information that an individual’s life may be in danger, we will inform them accordingly. We never ignore anything that could endanger an individual.”
Police have maintained a heavy police presence in the area, with the 20 men listed so far defiantly refusing to leave the area, sparking fears there will be another weekend of violence in the North Down .
Police deal with a number of masked men approaching Weavers Grange in Newtownards on March 30, 2023 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)
SDLP Policing Board member Mark H Durkan said loyalist gangsters should not be allowed to terrorize communities.
He said: “These people have no place in our society, their existence has never been justified and they are little more than drug dealers and common criminals, who only exist to line their own pockets, with no concern for the people they falsely claim to represent. .
“This situation is rapidly spiraling out of control and I urge the PSNI to step up its response and restore calm to these communities.
“I understand that the police are in a difficult situation, but we need to break the illusion that these groups have any power or influence in these areas.”