Parades Commission bar Easter Monday Apprentice Boys march

The Parades Commission has barred a Protestant Apprentice Boys parade from the nationalist lower Ormeau area of south Belfast.

The Commission has ruled that the contentious annual parade by the Protestant Apprentice Boys of Derry will not be allowed to cross the Ormeau Bridge from the upper part of the Ormeau Road into the mainly Catholic lower Ormeau area on Easter Monday. However the return evening parade route is not considered contentious and remains unchanged.

The Belfast Walker's Club has criticised the Commission and said they are disappointed with the decision despite having given the approval for it last year.

The Parades Commission, who made their announcement on Monday March 25, explained that it had paid particular attention to the fact that this year marked the 10th anniversary of the Sean Graham betting shop murders.

In February 1992, loyalist gunmen burst into the bookmaker’s shop on the lower Ormeau Road and shot dead five people inside.

The Parades Commission said it “frequently received representations about sensitive sites of memorials or tragic events and tries to take note of these”.

Last year, the parade had been given the go ahead but was called off because of the foot-and-mouth disease restrictions.

South Belfast Sinn Féin councillor Alex Maskey said the decision not to allow the march along the Lower Ormeau was the “only possible decision”.

“Throughout the south Belfast area there has been much work done by politicians, community groups and church leaders aimed at healing relations within the community. It is unfortunate that in the past these relations have often been defined by the marching issue. To allow a march to go ahead would have set this back greatly.” (AMcE)