A loyalist paramilitary group is threatening to create "a Short Strand situation" in a posh North Down town.
The Red Hand Commando says its members and supporters will riot on the streets of Bangor if a list of demands aren't met by North Down Council.
Loyalists opened fire on police and nationalists and left a trail of destruction in severe disturbances in the Short Strand last week.
Now the Red Hand Commando is warning it could do the same in Bangor, the tourist jewel in the crown on Ulster's gold coast. The paramiltaries are also threatening to attack Catholic homes in the Brunswick Road are of the town.
Sectarian violence is rare in Bangor and police chiefs are gravely worried by the threats. A small but deadly paramilitary group, the Red Hand Commando is closely linked to the UVF.
On Tuesday night, loyalists and their bands will march on North Down Council offices. They will then hold a rally where speakers will lambast the DUP-controlled council for "betraying the loyalist community".
They're accusing the council of mismanaging European peace money which has meant that community projects to help women and children in loyalist estates have been starved of cash. The Special EU programmes body has expressed concern to the council about the managing of funds in the area.
The protestors are also claiming that the politicians at Stormont are ignoring loyalist voices. "Enough is enough," said one loyalist source.
The Red Hand Commando and UVF elements are supporting the march. The UVF's Shankill-based leadership is deeply worried that the situation could spiral out of control. It's trying to stop its North Down and East Belfast members from taking part.
Loyalist ex-prisoners and community activists from Bangor's Kilcooley, Bloomfield, and Whitehill estates have pledged to attend the rally.
Loyalists have already upped the ante in Bangor in advance of the Twelfth by erecting Union Jacks and Northern Ireland flags along the sea-front.
A loyalist contingent also entered the middle-class Bangor West area and put up flags there in a move which has troubled residents, many of whom are professionals.
In recent years, Bangor has been free of such sectarian shows with only carnival-type bunting discretely displayed by the Orange Order. Issuing a chilling threat, one loyalist source said: "We wont be ignored.
"There wont be rioting in loyalist areas, any trouble will be on the main streets of the town. The council will have to deal with that.
"Loyalists could march into Brunswick Road and you'd see Catholics, their houses and cars attacked. Make no mistake about it, this is a very volatile situation. We could easily have a repeat of what happened in the Short Strand."
Although small, the Red Hand Commando was behind many gruesome murders and bombings during the Troubles. In 1974, it went on a no-warning bombing spree, planting devices in 14 Catholic owned pubs in a fortnight, killing one man and injuring 100 people.
The paramilitary group killed former Sinn Féin vice-president Maire Drumm two years later. She was shot dead by gunmen dressed as doctors in Belfast's Mater hospital where she was receiving treatment for an eye problem.
In the 1990s, the Red Hand Commando was responsible for seven murders, including those of Catholic and Protestant civilians and fellow loyalists.
Wider loyalist anger in Bangor has been growing in recent weeks. The majority of loyalist communities have pulled out of the council-controlled bonfire schemes.
Seven out of 12 local bonfire committees have vowed to organise their own Eleventh night celebrations. They're refusing to comply with council regulations on the gathering of bonfire material and the burning of certain items which causes toxic fumes and pollution.
