Drumcree: DUP has power to remove O'Neill as first minister, says Lockhart
Darran Marshall, BBC News NI, and PA Media
A DUP MP claims unionist voters are angered by Michelle O'Neill's role in Garvaghy Road protests. Carla Lockhart states that the DUP has the power to remove O'Neill as Northern Ireland's first minister.
On Friday, the secretary of state banned the Portadown District Lodge from marching down the mainly nationalist Garvaghy Road, a decision welcomed by nationalists but criticized by unionists.
O'Neill is one of several Sinn Féin politicians who received letters from the PSNI regarding their involvement in protests over the Drumcree parading dispute.
Speaking outside Drumcree Church on Saturday, Lockhart expressed her constituents' frustration:
"They're angry at the chief constable for allowing lawlessness to win, for allowing the mob to dictate. They're angry at the secretary of state for his intervention, but the most palpable anger is at Michelle O'Neill...for breaking the law flagrantly on the Garvaghy Road, and thumbing her nose at unionism and at the Orange Order and at this community."
Lockhart asserted that the DUP must take action against O'Neill, stating, "Very clearly it cannot be business as usual at Stormont."