Loyalist band break determination again

The PSNI last Saturday allowed the UDA-aligned North Belfast Whitewell Defenders Flute Band and its followers to deviate from the route laid down by the Parades Commission.

The loyalist march was organised to raise funds for victims of the Asian Tsunami, yet they applied to parade through contested nationalist areas.

the Parades Commission prohibited marchers from marching the contested route, but local residents said that once the marchers refused to get on their buses to take them past the contentious section, the PSNI, wearing riot gear, escorted them up the nationalist Whitewell Road.

Sinn Féin councillor David Kennedy said the decision by the PSNI was an absolute disgrace.