A row has erupted over the publication of a photograph showing soldiers allegedly supporting the Protestant Orange Order over their Drumcree protest.

The picture in this week's edition of the Andersonstown News, a weekly paper in nationalist west Belfast, shows around 70 uniformed Royal Irish Regiment members with what appears to be an Orange Order banner.

Orangemen have staged a long running campaign in a bid to reverse a decision preventing them marching down Portadown's Garvaghy Road in July 1998 and 1999.

The soldiers' picture appears beneath a bold headline in the paper which reads Royal Irish Bigotry.

The soldiers, whose regiment was formerly known as the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) are holding a banner which appears to read: "Drumcree: Here we stand, we can do no other. For religious and civil liberty."

Four photographs

Editor of the Andersonstown News Robin Livingstone said the paper had received four photographs and negatives anonymously in the post from a "regiment source" along with a cover note.

"We got the pictures and we were happy to print them, because we think it confirms everything we have been saying about the RIR and indeed the UDR for many years."

He said the photographs "which were very obviously posed" had not been tampered with by the newspaper and he was convinced they were "legitimate".

"The negatives are now with our solicitors and we have the prints which we will let anyone have access to. It has not been touched at all."

Sinn Fein assembly member Dara O'Hagan called for the abolition of the regiment and said the photograph "sums up everything in relation to the RIR".

Recruitment drive

She said the Ministry of Defence was spending vast amounts of money on a recruitment drive ostensibly aimed at Catholics.

"It will surprise few nationalists that nothing has changed with this sectarian force.

"Few will have difficulty accepting that to a person the membership of the RIR is pro-Orange Order, pro the siege of the Garvaghy Road, anti civil liberty and most definitely anti-Catholic."

This feeling was echoed by Breandan MacCionnaith of the nationalist Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition, who are opposed to the Orange march.

He is to present copies of the picture to the British and Irish governments and raise the matter with Secretary of State Peter Mandelson.

"This is a pro-Orange, sectarian display by members of the RIR," he said.

"I don't think there's any doubt that a group of 50 or 60 armed men in full combat gear with British Army issue rifles, clearly inside a military installation, could be anything but genuine."

He claimed the RIR and the UDR over a number of years, particularly in certain areas had a "whole history of sectarianism".

The paper also claims to have other negatives and pictures which it has not published.

Army statement

In a statement the army said they would make no comment on the matter until it is confirmed that the photograph is genuine.



It added: "We expect the highest standard of conduct from all soldiers and if the photograph proves genuine it will be rigorously investigated. If it proved to be so "the circumstances in which it was taken will be rigorously investigated.

"We would point out that photographs can be taken in all sorts of circumstances which can subsequently be misinterpreted. For instance, soldiers from all nations have been pictured with captured emblems.

"We can confirm that the RIR welcomes recruits from across the entire community and indeed from north and south of the border.

"The regiment has not, as the article suggests, changed its policy. It has always welcomed recruits from across the entire community."