A bus has been hijacked and set alight in an attack politicians have linked to loyalist opposition to Brexit’s Northern Ireland Protocol. Stormont’s Infrastructure Minister, Nichola Mallon, said two masked men “muttered something about the protocol” as they held the driver at gunpoint. The incident happened in the Abbot Drive area of Newtownards at about 6.30am on Monday. Two masked and armed men boarded the bus and poured fuel over the vehicle before setting it alight. The driver managed to get off the vehicle unharmed but has been left badly shaken by the incident. No passengers were on board at the time. The charred and smouldering shell of the vehicle remained in the area on Monday afternoon. A nearby bus shelter was also significantly damage by the blaze. The attack in the predominantly unionist area happened on the day set by the DUP earlier in the autumn to pull down …