Thousands march in Orange parades

**Loki** · 07-12-2013, 09:31 AM

Thousands of Orangemen take part in Twelfth of July parades

Thousands of Orangemen are taking part in the annual Twelfth of July parades across Northern Ireland.

A total of 550 parades are due to take place on Friday. Londonderry will host the flagship procession.

It comes against a backdrop of tension over a parade in north Belfast.

Marchers will not be allowed to return along part of the Crumlin Road that separates nationalist and loyalist communities on Friday evening.

Ruling

The Parades Commission, a body set up to rule on contentious parades in Northern Ireland, said Orangemen could walk on the stretch of the road that goes past Ardoyne in the morning, but not later in the day.

In recent years there has been serious rioting in the nationalist Ardoyne area following the return leg of the parade.

The morning parade was blocked temporarily by police just before it reached the Ardoyne shops.

This was because there were many more supporters accompanying the bands than had been allowed by the Parades Commission ruling, that limited followers of the lodges and band to 100.

After hundreds of supporters withdrew, police allowed the marchers to proceed and the parade passed the Ardoyne shops without incident, shortly after 09:00 BST.

Nationalist residents from the Greater Ardoyne Residents' Collective (GARC) held a small protest in the area, amid a heavy police presence.

GARC was one of two residents' groups from the Ardoyne that had planned larger protests against the parade, which is a so-called feeder march for the Ligoneil lodges taking part in the main Belfast demonstration.

However, after the Parades Commission ruling on Wednesday evening, both GARC and Crumlin and Ardoyne Residents' Association (CARA) called off their larger demonstrations.

The marching season is a period of events from April to August, with the highpoint on 12 July when Orangemen march to commemorate William of Orange's victory over the Catholic King James II at the Battle of the Boyne in Ireland in 1690.

William III is revered by the order as a champion of his faith and the man who secured the Protestant ascendancy in Ireland. They commemorate his victory in their annual parades.

Many Catholics see the marches as triumphalist and sectarian with some traditional Orange routes passing through or past areas occupied mainly by Catholics and nationalists.

The Parades Commission ruling on the north Belfast parade was welcomed by nationalist politicians but angered unionists.

The Democratic Unionist Party said the Parades Commission decision was rewarding riotous behaviour by dissident republicans after shots were fired during the trouble that followed last year's march.

The party requested that the Northern Ireland Assembly be recalled to debate the ruling. That debate is arranged for Tuesday 16 July.

The Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland called the Parades Commission's decision "ludicrous" and damaging to community relations, but Sinn Féin called it a sensible decision.

On Thursday, Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers said she had no power to intervene over the Parades Commission's decision.

"The only power I have to intervene and override a Parades Commission determination is if I receive an application asking me to do that from the chief constable," Ms Villiers said.

"He has not sent me such an application and so I don't in this case have any power over the decision that has been made by the Parades Commission.

"He (the chief constable) certainly made it clear he had no intention of sending me such an application."

PSNI Chief Constable Matt Baggott said 43 of the parades taking place on 12 July - the height of the marching season - were "sensitive".

He has drafted in an extra 630 police officers from across Britain to support the police in Northern Ireland in the event of rioting.