DUP Cllr arrested over Castlederg parade comments

Police in the North have arrested DUP councillor Ruth Patterson over comments she made about a planned republican parade in County Tyrone.
In a conversation on Facebook, she had responded to someone else’s post about an imaginary attack on the parade in Castlederg in which several people including Sinn Féin figures are killed.
reports
This morning the PSNI said its public order inquiry team had arrested a 57-year-old female in relation to offences concerning the sending of grossly offensive communications and other serious criminal offences in relation to intimidation and encouraging criminal acts.
DUP Cllr Ruth Patterson apoligised for the comments she made yesterday.
She said her comments were “completely incompatible with the polices of the Democratic Unionist Party and what is expected of me as an elected representative”.
A DUP spokesman said the party officers would “be looking at the issue but taking into account councillor Patterson’s apology”.
The Castlederg parade, planned for 11 August, commemorates Tyrone’s republican dead, including two IRA members killed by their own bomb in 1973. The march is backed by Sinn Féin.
However, unionists have described the parade as “grossly insensitive” and say it should not be allowed to go ahead.
Yesterday evening, the Parades Commission ruled the Castlederg parade could take place, but it placed restrictions on the march, re-routing it away from a war memorial in the Diamond area of the town.