March rerouted at flashpoint

The annual Whiterock Orange march through the West Belfast peace line has been a contentious parade for many years, but this is the first time it’s been rerouted.
Last year, Eddie McElwaine, one of the Shankill Butchers gang, notorious for having tortured and murdered Catholics in the 1970s, was photographed carrying a UVF banner. This, along with the Order’s point-blank refusal to speak to a nationalist residents’ group, is thought to be behind the rerouting decision.
In its ruling, the Parades Commission said there had been “multiple violations” by the Order during last year’s parade. Nationalist residents’ spokesman Sean Murray said it was only possible decision.
“Year after year we have presented the commission with overwhelming evidence that this parade was sectarian and triumphalist in nature,” he said. “Year after year we have offered talks with the Order.
“We have repeatedly suggested compromise, but every one of those compromises were turned down by parade organizers. Those offers are still on the table for the Orange Order and all they have to do is come and talk to us.”
The DUP, the UUP and the Orange Order have protested strongly against the Parades Commission’s ruling but local relations between nationalists and unionists have improved.
The two groups have regular meetings across the peace line and have an agreed mobile phone network to communicate in the event of problems, preventing violence spiraling.
It will be important for both sides to see if their relationship holds up against the backdrop of the Commission decision, which takes effect on Saturday afternoon.
In past years, there’s been violence at the march. On one occasion, the Sinn Fein assemblyman and spokesman on policing, Gerry Kelly, was beaten on the head by a police baton as he tried to hold back nationalist protesters.
The decision to bar the controversial Whiterock parade will top the Democratic Unionist Party’s agenda when it meets the British prime minister in London on Friday.
The Rev. Ian Paisley called the decision “disastrous and unacceptable” and said it could heighten tensions. “Anything could happen on Saturday,” he said. “The Protestant people and the Orangemen are rightly outraged.”
The DUP leader added: “The only way we can translate that outrage to the prime minister is to have a meeting with him. We are not threatening violence, we are asking for our rights.”
Earlier, the Grand Master of the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland appealed for a peaceful marching season. Robert Saulters said he had written to members of the Orange Order asking them to “keep it cool, not to let them be intimidated by republicans or anyone else.”
He added: “We want a quiet Twelfth, as we had last year because of the elections coming up. Gerry Adams asked them [republicans] to be quiet last year so let us be quiet this year and show that we can enjoy ourselves without any friction.”
Meanwhile, a North Belfast hospital was stormed by a mob of loyalists after Friday night’s contentious “Tour of the North” march. The Mater chief executive said that staff, patients and relatives were traumatized by the incident.
After an Orange parade ended, a gang of up to 40 people, wanting to use the Mater’s restrooms, tried to break into the Accident and Emergency department of the hospital.
The attack reportedly followed a dispute with a faction of marchers waving a rival UVF flag. Hospital staff were forced to lock the patient area after some of the gang managed to get into the hospital.
In other news, SDLP representatives on the district policing partnership in Cookstown have been threatened by loyalist paramilitaries, should Orange parades be rerouted there as well.
The SDLP Assembly member for Mid-Ulster, Patsy McGlone, vowed to defy the intimidation and threats. “We will not be put off our duty by either orange or green fascists,” he said.
Challenging the Orange Order to condemn the threats, McGlone said, “Where threats have been made, then clearly those associated with the parades should make a very clear stance and repudiate this action from paramilitary organizations.”