Northern Ireland's justice minister David Ford has accused his unionist power-sharing partners of provoking the violent protests over the flying of the union flag in Belfast.
Ford told the annual Alliance party conference that thousands of leaflets distributed across east Belfast alleging the Alliance was about to abolish the flying of the flag over Belfast city hall had sparked the protests over the past 11 weeks, which have led to 150 arrests, dozens of police officers injured and millions of pounds in lost trading.
It was an Alliance motion that changed council policy from flying the union flag for 365 days a year to 18 designated days. But the move was a compromise after demands from Sinn Féin and the SDLP to end the flying of the flag altogether.
Addressing party delegates in the La Mon hotel in east Belfast on Saturday, Ford laid the blame for the origins of the protests at the door of the two mainstream unionist parties, and claimed they had created the controversy as a "project to damage Alliance".
"When unionist politicians say that those who raised the flag issue need to accept their responsibility for what followed, they are right. They need to recognise what happens to when you stir up tension in a divided society, when you encourage protest without knowing where it will lead and cannot bring yourself to call an end to illegality without any ambiguity," he said.
The Alliance said the homes of party members in north Down, east Belfast and east Antrim had been targeted since the protests started in early December.
Ford added that after 10 years of devolved government there was still no effective strategy to tackle deepening sectarian divisions in Northern Ireland.