Orange Parades to be Forced Through Three Nationalist Communities

Action Alert:  Orange Parades to be Forced Down Three Nationalist Communities

Ardoyne and two other North Belfast nationalist communities are about to be invaded by a hostile and unwanted Orange Order parade – escorted by the Police Service Northern Ireland [PSNI] and British soldiers.   This is a potential repeat of the situation that caused civil rights abuses and serious injuries and violence last year.

I.  Background:

Last year, outlawed loyalist paramilitary organizations such as the Ulster Defense Association and the Ulster Volunteer Force, responsible for the murder of many innocent Catholics and nationalists in North Belfast, and many hundreds throughout the north of Ireland, were celebrated during the Orange Order parades that were forced down nationalist communities in Ardoyne and the Springfield Road by the police and British army in riot gear. 

No community suffered more from the present conflict than North Belfast in terms of loyalist murders, imprisonment, and poverty. 

Orange Order leaders continue to refuse to negotiate with nationalist residents groups to seek reasonable concessions.

On 12 July 2004, three to four hundred exceptionally bigoted and rowdy loyalist marchers, many displaying paramilitary flags and emblems in violation of the Parades Commission’s rules, were escorted through these communities by the police and British soldiers.

In Ardoyne and the

In Ardoyne on 12 July 2004, the London based Daily Telegraph estimated that 1,600 police and soldiers used water cannon and dogs to virtually imprison nationalists in their own neighborhoods -- almost as many heavily armed, crown forces as Irish nationalist residents of the area.

This should not be allowed to happen again.

II.   Statements

Gerry Kelly, Sinn Fein’s Assembly Member for North Belfast, made the following statement after meeting with the Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern along with members of the Ardoyne Dialogue Group. 

“I took the opportunity at today’s meeting to impress upon the Minister the very difficult situation which has been created by the decision of the Parades Commission to force two Orange Parades through three nationalist areas in North Belfast on July 12^th.

“The Ardoyne Dialogue Group explained to the Minister the detail of their compromise position which would in the short term help ease tensions around the twelfth parades.  However the only way in which the issue of contentious parades in North Belfast can be resolved is through a process of genuine and meaningful dialogue.

“I called on the Minister to intervene on behalf of the nationalist residents of Ardoyne and he has agreed to raise our concerns with the British government and the Parades Commission.”

Sinn Fein MEPs Bairbre de Brun and Mary Lou McDonald raised the issue at the European Union Parliament.  Their statement concludes:

“Despite the obvious anger that now exists within the nationalist community in Ardoyne and through out the Six Counties it is to their credit that residents groups continue to offer generous compromise arrangements which would if adopted significantly defuse tensions and assist the task of maintaining calm across the city.

"Sinn Fein believe that the rights of residents need to be upheld.  We also support the rights of the Orange Order to parades.  However, it is vital that genuine engagement and agreement form the bedrock of dealing with the issue of parades.”

The community groups reached out to the Irish government for help.  Contact Bertie Ahern through the Irish Embassy.  The Irish Ambassador to the US is Noel Fahey.  He can be reached at The Embassy of Ireland,

Email:  www.irealndemb.org/feedback.html

Tony Blair and the British government can be contacted through :  The British Embassy,

Phone:  202-588-7800;  Fax:  202-745-0359

Email:  www.ppa@washington.mail.fco.gov.uk

Some Talking Points for your remarks:

• The GFA guarantees freedom from sectarian harassment
• The PSNI are a force outside the law, unimpeded by the Parades Commission or the people they are supposed to serve.
• These sectarian parades are antithetical to the Irish peace process and international principles of civil and human rights.
• The Orange Order refuses to negotiate with the very communities they harass and humiliate, despite easily reached compromises.
• The Irish government is an equal partner to the GFA.  If the British government will not act to avoid the violation of human and civil rights of nationalists and the likelihood of potentially lethal violence and injury, then Dublin must step in NOW.  Not after it is too late.