Irish nationalists brace for July 5

July 1, 1998
Issue 

By Dave Riley

The issue of loyalist parades has dominated the final days of election campaigning for the Northern Ireland assembly. One of the most contentious parades of the Northern Ireland marching season passed without major incident. The decision by the Parades Commission to re-route the "Tour of the North" parade was greeted with general relief, but loyalist hardliners were infuriated.

Two years ago, tens of thousands of Protestant Orangemen marchers turned a few hectares near the Drumcree Church in Portadown into a battle zone. Billy "King Rat" Wright, who was killed in Long Kesh prison last December, led the loyalist dissidents.

He shared the limelight with David Trimble, MP, leader of the Ulster Unionist Party. Trimble is likely to be appointed as first minister of the new Six-County assembly.

The march this year will be on July 5, and as many as 40,000 Orangemen may try to force their way through Portadown's small Catholic neighbourhood.

The Royal Ulster Constabulary keeps statistics on parades in north-east Ireland. It lists both loyalist and nationalist marches, keeps track of those that were re-routed and those where disorder took place.

What these figures show — what the RUC and the British government certainly know — is that there are nearly 10 times as many loyalist marches as nationalist ones each year and that violence accompanies Orange marches more often. Yet seldom are conditions imposed on loyalist marches.

In 1996, during the Drumcree stand-off, the RUC attempted to block Orangemen from going down the Garvaghy Road. In the riots that followed, the Six Counties suffered immense damage as trains and cars were burned and shops looted and torched. That could easily happen again this year.

There is growing evidence that loyalists are planning another "siege of Drumcree" if the Parades Commission rules that the march be routed away from Garvaghy Road. Leaflets and posters urging mass demonstrations have already been distributed throughout many loyalist estates.

Orange marchers taking part in the recent Tour of the North parade were told to "put a good face on it" following the decision to re-route the march away from nationalist areas in North Belfast.

Once the elections are over, such compliance may not be forthcoming, and the agreement which created the statelet's new assembly is sure to face its first major challenge.

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