Ardoyne community appeals to GARC to call off protests over Crumlin Road parade deal

A RANGE of community groups and political and religious figures have urged the Greater Ardoyne Residents’ Collective to call off their protests this weekend ahead of three Orange Order lodges and two bands parading along the Crumlin Road tomorrow morning in agreement with the Crumlin Ardoyne Residents’ Association (CARA).

GARC plans a parade on Friday evening and a protest on Saturday morning.

The appeal comes in a newspaper advertisement in Friday’s Irish News signed by the community groups, north Belfast priests Fr Gary Donegan and Fr Martin Magill, and political figures from Sinn Féin and the Alliance Party.

Signatories include the North Belfast Interface Network, Ard-Eoin Kichams GAC, Ardoyne Youth Club, and Twaddell/Woodvale Residents’ Association, among others.

The Ardoyne, Bone & Ligoniel Ex-Prisoners’ Committee and the Tar Isteach Ex-Prisoners’ Association have also signed.

North Belfast MLA Gerry Kelly said that it is Sinn Féin’s view that people need fewer evening parades in the Ardoyne area, not more.

◼︎ Peadar Whelan writes in this month’s An Phoblacht:

“Key to the agreement is that the Orange parade will conclude with a march along the Crumlin Road on Saturday 1 October.”

He explains that it was banned from passing Ardoyne in July 2013 and this led to intense rioting on the Woodvale Road when those returning from the Twelfth demonstrations, including Orangemen wearing their Orange regalia, attacked the PSNI.

He adds:

“In return, the loyalist self-styled ‘civil rights camp’ on Twaddell Avenue – or “Camp Twaddell” as it has been dubbed and which has been the source of nightly protests – will be vacated by protesters.”