evidence: The poll was carried out over the Easter period when clashes were taking place in a number of areas across Northern Ireland, sparked by loyalist anger over the Northern Ireland trade protocol and the Police Service of Northern Ireland's handling of a republican funeral during the pandemic. [...] A total of 48% of those surveyed in Northern Ireland told the pollsters they want the controversial trade protocol introduced as part of the UK's EU Withdrawal Agreement scrapped, in line with demands from the DUP and other unionist parties, while 46% wanted the protocol to be retained. Unionists have claimed the protocol, which requires checks on goods moving across the Irish Sea from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, threatens the constitutional integrity of the UK.