ABSTRACT
In fact the security forces (police and Army) tended to regard the Loyalists (extreme Protestant/Unionist) as an unwanted diversion of time and resources from the primary Republican threat. Further, they also tended to see Loyalists more as organised criminals, low-level and with a nasty sectarian edge, whose main concern was with vengeance attacks against Catholics (the population from which Republicans recruited) and self-enriching criminal thugs – ‘hoods’ who gave a bad name to Protestant/Unionist pro-state supporters.2 Meanwhile, Republican splinter groups often helped to confuse things slightly, although they occasionally ‘helped’ the security forces by engaging in some nasty internecine feuds that left Republicans dead and demoralised their supporters.
