Insisted Democrat worked on Southern rebels (10)

I believe the answer is:

dissidents

'rebels' is the definition.

'insisted democrat worked on southern' is the wordplay.
'democrat' becomes 'd'.
'worked' is an anagram indicator.
'on' is an insertion indicator (as in clothing 'on' a person).
'southern' becomes 's' (abbreviation).
'insisted'+'d'='insistedd'
'insistedd' anagrammed gives 'disidents'.
'disidents' going around 's' is 'DISSIDENTS'.

(Another definition for dissidents that I've seen is " protesters".)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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