Loyalist activist Jamie Bryson has defended attending an event remembering a UVF man less than a week after criticising Sinn Féin over an IRA commemoration.
Mr Bryson joined a commemoration in East Belfast for senior UVF member Robert 'Squeak' Seymour, who was shot dead by the IRA in 1988.
He was pictured on the Woodstock Road on Saturday with leading loyalist Stephen Matthews.
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Mr Bryson had been critical of Sinn Féin North Belfast MP John Finucane attending the previous weekend an IRA memorial event in Mullaghbawn, Co Armagh.
The MP's decision had prompted anger from victims' representatives and rival politicians who cited the many murders perpetrated by the IRA's South Armagh unit during the Troubles.
Mr Finucane, whose solicitor father Pat was gunned down by loyalist paramilitaries in 1989, said the right to commemorate the dead should apply to every section of society.
Speaking on the BBC's Nolan Show, Mr Bryson acknowledged he was being "inconsistent, and I'm honest about that".
When challenged on how his approach would be viewed by many as hypocrisy, he said: "Well it may well be."
Mr Bryson said a key issue with the South Armagh commemoration was Sinn Féin portraying itself as a "party for all".
"Well, no they're not," he told the Radio Ulster phone-in programme.
"I don't purport unlike Sinn Féin to be 'for all'. I am a loyalist and I'm a unionist."
Mr Bryson said he has attended the Belfast commemoration for many years and described the legacy of the Troubles as a "very difficult, complex issue".
While he views the IRA as "terrorists", he added: "I view the actions of the UVF and UDA in a conflict situation as counter-terrorism, as responding to the IRA. And that's not a popular view."
When challenged on sectarian murders by loyalist paramilitaries, Mr Bryson said that "no innocent person should have been targeted or killed".
The loyalist activist said: "The killing of any innocent Catholic, Protestant or anybody else, was wrong, was totally wrong, unacceptable and I do not endorse that in any shape or form."
Mr Bryson said he does not support the UVF and denied having any links to any proscribed organisation.
"The UVF and the UDA need to get to the point of transitioning to a place of civilianisation, playing a positive role in society," he said.
He condemned drug-dealing and other criminality, saying it "doesn't represent loyalism".
Mr Bryson was pictured at the commemoration with Stephen Matthews, who last year lost a High Court bid to stop the Sunday Life naming him in connection with the East Belfast UVF.
Mr Bryson, who runs a consultancy firm, said that Mr Matthews would "emphatically" deny involvement in the East Belfast UVF.
On being pictured with Mr Matthews, he added: "There's no dispute that not only is Mr Matthews a client of mine, but in fact, that Mr Matthews is a friend of mine. No dispute in that at all."
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