Hardline dissident republicans are defending the sale of Christmas cards showing Santas and snowmen carrying armalites and deadly rocket launchers.
They goods are on sale in Republican Sinn Féin's headquarters on Belfast's Falls Road and the shop's owners claim business is brisk.
However, the sale of the cards in the run-up to Christmas has sparked outrage among leading unionists who branded the merchandise "sick".
They're demanding police take immediate action by arresting and charging those selling the goods with incitement to hatred.
East Belfast MLA and ex-UDR man, Michael Copeland, led the storm of protest saying the cards insulted the memory of victims killed in the conflict and could lead to more "death and destruction".
But last night Republican Sinn Féin vice-president, Geraldine Taylor, blasted back: "The cards are going nowhere. They're the fastest selling items in our shop.
"The six counties remain under British occupation and there are men and women still on the streets challenging the British through armed struggle.
"These cards remind people at Christmas that the situation here hasn't changed and nothing is normal. Peace will come only when the British withdraw from Ireland."
One card shows Santa, sporting a woolly Tricolour hat and scarf, waving an AK47 in the air and shouting 'Tiocfaidh ar la'. Another has Santa with an armalite wearing an ammunition belt, with a box of hand grenades beside him, shouting 'An Phoblacht Abu' (Up the Republic).
Another card shows a snowman in a black IRA beret holding a rocket launcher in a firing position.
MLA Michael Copeland said: "The graveyards of our country are full of the results of what these stupid cards lead to. The people selling them should be arrested and charged with incitement to hatred."
Copeland said that in "no civilised society" would such merchandise be sold. "The PSNI have to take action, raid these premises, and seize these cards," he added.
Traditional Unionist Voice leader, Jim Allister, said: "It's utterly reprehensible that these cards are on sale in the run-up to Christmas – a time of peace towards all men.
"People paying money for them are encouraging violence. It's repulsive that anybody would want to buy or receive such cards during the season of goodwill."
Geraldine Taylor of Republican Sinn Féin said the cards were "political propaganda for the republican movement". She claimed they were no different from cards and calendars glorifying "armed struggle" until recently sold by Provisional Sinn Féin.
Since Sinn Féin had stopped selling such items, local people now bought them from her party's shop to send to family and friends, especially those abroad, she added.
Taylor denied the Christmas cards meant Republican Sinn Féin trivialised violence. "All loss of all human life is regrettable," she added.
When asked how the victims of republican violence would feel about the merchandise, she said: "British and American military Christmas cards show their far deadlier weapons of war. Ask the innocent victims of those armies how they feel about those cards."
