A Provisional IRA gang has been accused of assaulting a member of the 32 County Sovereignty movement in Derry.
The dissident republican grouping has claimed that a four-strong “Provo mob” left the man with “serious head and facial injuries” in a bar in the city on Sunday night.
A spokesman for the body - the political wing of the Real IRA - claimed that th
e “entire attack” was captured on CCTV.
He added that intimidation and verbal attacks against members of the 32CSM and their partners had been “on the increase” in recent weeks. And he warned the Provisional movement to keep its members “in check”.
“These verbal and physical attacks are the work of a small but dangerous group of Provisional movement hangers-on who seem intent on creating a civil war mentality between the Provisionals and members of the republican movement. We ask the Provisionals to keep their members in check before the situation gets out of control and we would ask whose agenda this is and whose it serves?”
He added: “Republican separatism is on the rise in Derry and across the nation and we would urge our members not to react to what appears to be the last kicks of a wounded animal.
“The republican project will not be dragged into the gutter by these people and we will stand firm behind the republican position.”
