Parades commission to discuss weekend parade

The Parades Commission is to meet today to discuss whether it should review its decision to allow an Orange parade to pass through a nationalist area at the weekend.

Yesterday, the Commission ruled that a single lodge, consisting of around 50 Orangemen, would be allowed to pass through Workman Avenue onto the Springfield Road, with the rest of the parade being directed through the site of the old Mackies factory.

The decision caused an uproar among nationalist residents who said that the decision was "shameful."

Last year, the contentious parade was disallowed by the Parades Commission, which resulted in some of the worst street violence experienced in the city in years.

Sinn Fein President, Gerry Adams, met with the Commission yesterday afternoon where he called on them to review the decision.

Speaking after the meeting Mr Adams said: "Last year we witnessed widespread violence and intimidation across Belfast and elsewhere as a result of this parade. This violence was widely blamed on the Orange Order and the loyalist paramilitaries.

"Yesterday the Parades Commission capitulated to this violence and the threat of further violence and they rewarded the Orange Order and the loyalist paramilitaries who orchestrated last September's mayhem on the streets.

"This determination has the effect of forcing two parades onto the Springfield Road into two adjoining nationalist areas. They have compounded the problem. Rather than seeking to promote an accommodation through dialogue the Parades Commission has instead promoted the idea of a parade through the threat of further loyalist violence. This is entirely the wrong approach."

Mr Adams said that Sinn Féin had asked the Parades Commission to review what he said was a "deeply flawed determination."

However, yesterday the DUP released a statement praising the decision. It read:

"This decision recognises the right of Orangemen to parade on the Springfield Road from the Workman Avenue gate.

"The Parades Commission has recognised the principle that this section of the main Springfield Road should be a shared space. In this regard it constitutes progress on the position last year.

"Nevertheless it is bizarre that having accepted the principle, they will only allow the Whiterock Lodge and No 9 District Officers to walk on that section of the road.

For this reason we will want to talk to the Secretary of State and the Parades Commission.

"The North and West Belfast Parades Forum and No 9 District have worked hard to achieve progress and in this they are to be commended by all right thinking people."

Parades Commission chairman Roger Poole said the decision had been a difficult one, particularly after the "savage and shameful violence" of last year.

The PSNI have estimated that the cost of policing the Whiterock parade last year and the expense caused by rioting in a number of loyalist areas, totalled around £3 million.

(EF/SP)