No formal talks with UVF over Avoniel bonfire, says PSNI

By Michael McHugh, Press Association

Police have not held formal meetings with the UVF over the Avoniel bonfire, a senior commander said.

PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Alan Todd was speaking after Jamie Bryson, a representative of the bonfire builders from the East Belfast Cultural Collective, claimed officers engaged with the organisation during the dispute.

The PSNI warned of the risk of gunfire if materials had been removed from the pyre by contractors appointed by Belfast City Council.

Mr Todd told the BBC's Nolan Show: "There have been no formal meetings or scheduled meetings or diaried meetings between any senior member of this organisation and the individual you name, to which I am aware of, and I have checked with all the local officers responsible."

Concerns over threats and intimidation have hampered attempts to remove sinister graffiti linked to the row over the contentious loyalist bonfire.

The council abandoned an attempt to demolish the bonfire in east Belfast when hired private contractors pulled out of the job after threats were daubed on walls close to the site, purporting to identify them.

Days after some of those threats appeared, graffiti naming an individual remained on a wall close to the bonfire site at Avoniel leisure centre.

Similar graffiti claiming to identify contractors has been removed, but the council said safety concerns had prevented it completing the job.

Police have accused the east Belfast UVF of mobilising and orchestrating its members to resist the bonfire's removal.