LOVE ULSTER LEADER and victims campaigner Willie Frazer has died aged 58.
Frazer was a long-time campaigner for victims of republican violence during The Troubles.
He was a lead organiser of the Love Ulster campaign, which in 2006 had to abandon a march in Dublin due to serious violence.
In recent years, he campaigned for the government to release information related to the 1976 Kingsmill massacre, in which 10 Protestant workmen were killed.
A well-known figure in Northern Irish politics for over two decades, he founded the Families Acting for Innocent Relatives in 1998.
His father, a part-time member of the Ulster Defence Regiment, was murdered by the IRA in 1975.
Several other members of his family were killed by the IRA.
DUP Leader Arlene Foster paid tribute to Frazer today, praising his “friendship and support”.
“William was fiercely independent and never afraid to speak his mind. I greatly valued his honest viewpoint as well as the friendship and support he offered me on many occasions. William feared no-one and would never be silenced from speaking up for the causes he believed most passionately in,” she said in a statement.
He “dedicated himself to fighting for victims of the republican terrorism he experienced so personally growing up in South Armagh,” Foster added.
Frazer also played a visible role in the flag protests in Belfast that began in 2012.
Naomi Long, the Leader of the Alliance Party, also paid her respects to Frazer. On Twitter, she wrote: “Sincerest condolences to Willie’s family and friends at this sad time. Wishing them comfort in their grief.”
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