Debate contribution: Naomi Long: Intimidation at her Home
Debate contribution by Mr Gerry Carroll on .
- MLA
- Mr Gerry Carroll
- Party at the time
- People Before Profit Alliance
- Date
- 13 October 2025
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Matters of the Day
- Heading
- Naomi Long: Intimidation at her Home
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5175320
Read the official Assembly record
Text
There is no doubt that the right to protest should be respected and protected for everyone. Protest is a human right and a vital mechanism for holding those who are in power to account. What happened outside the Justice Minister's house on Wednesday evening was no protest, however, and it was not legitimate protest. Individuals showing up in masks outside a family home is a blatant act of intimidation and harassment and should be condemned, as should the attack on the Infrastructure Minister's office last week. Everyone has the fundamental right to privacy. That right should extend even to those with whom we have significant political disagreements. It should extend to Ministers, MLAs, councillors and, most importantly, to citizens. Acts of personal intimidation are completely unacceptable and clearly cross a line. It is worth commenting on the fact that some parties think that it is OK for the Alliance Party to be upset as long as they do not dare to mention anything political that is obviously connected to the attack. It is political — of course it is. Shame on those who try to limit the conversation. We cannot ignore the role that far right agitators have played, in recent weeks and months, in whipping up fear and spreading misinformation in Belfast and beyond. A few ringleaders have repeatedly violated the right to peaceful protest in Belfast and beyond, going up to people's faces, filming them, jeering at them and harassing them in an attempt to provoke those peaceful protesters. They dox those protesters online and, quite often, publish personal information such as names and workplaces. That, again, is harassment and intimidation, and it needs to be condemned and called out. Those who engage in racist, far right dog-whistling instil fear in those whom they claim to protect with their vigilante patrols and protests outside family homes in east Belfast and elsewhere. I fully condemn those anti-democratic, cowardly acts of intimidation. I also condemn those who lead people to the top of the hill with their hate-filled, aggressive rhetoric and then, when the full consequences of their actions become apparent, walk away and say that it was nothing to do with them, whether that be in Belfast, Ballymena or elsewhere.
371 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.14 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- The text criticises or condemns the framing or division (0.94).
- Subject area: Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations.
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.16 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.07 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.05 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.16 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.10 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.25 | No |
| Overall judgement | 0.14 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing | 0.03 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it (chosen) | 0.94 |
| Adopts it | 0.03 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations | 0.75 |
| Immigration, asylum, race, ethnicity and Travellers | 0.22 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.03 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:27 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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