Anger as Parades Commission allows Ardoyne 12th parade

The Parades Commission has come under fire for allowing an Orange Parade to pass along the Crumlin Road and past the Ardoyne Shops in North Belfast next Monday 12 July.

The Commission ruled, on Monday 5 July, that four Orange Lodges and bands will be allowed to march along the Crumlin Road and past the Ardoyne shops on Monday morning, en route for the 12th, while on Monday evening three lodges are allowed on the return route. No bands, however, are to be permitted to make the return journey.

Reacting to the decision, Sinn Féin MLA for North Belfast, Gerry Kelly, said "the Orange Order time and time again have clearly broken the restrictions placed upon them by the Commission, yet the very same Commission fails to sanction them".

Kelly accused the Parades Commission of rewarding the Orange Order for refusing to engage with nationalist residents.

The Parades Commission made its ruling on the Ardoyne parade just days after it received a report, compiled by international observers, containing photographic evidence showing UDA commander William John Borland leading the Orange Parade past the Ardoyne shops last year.

The report, the work of the United States-based Irish Parades Emergency Committee (IPEC) and the Brehon Law Society, highlighted the prominence of the loyalist leader and other known loyalists at the 2003 parade and described their presence as "pervasive".

The report outlined how "contested parades are often accompanied by loyalist paramilitary displays and sectarian harassment in contradiction of the laws and rules of marching. IPEC and Brehon Law Society observers documented the open inclusion of paramilitary and other sectarian elements in Orange Order parades in defiance of both Parades Commission rulings and public order legislation."

The report, titled Marching and Disorder, also pointed out how the "impact of intense militarisation in order to facilitate Orange Order Parades has an incalculable negative effect on the residents of these communities. Such deployments disrupt the life of the community — in Ardoyne people were unable to attend Mass, shops were closed and movement was restricted."

• Meanwhile, Seán Murray of the Springfield Road Residents Action Group warned on Monday 5 July that his group is considering taking the Parades Commission to Court after it ruled that Orangemen can again parade along the Springfield Road on Monday morning 12 July.

"We are angry that the Parades Commission may be dropping its requirement that the Orange organisations and nationalist residents enter into 'meaningful engagement' over contentious parades".

According to Murray, the Parades Commission, in a meeting with international observers, stated they no longer required evidence of meaningful engagement between the Loyal Orders and residents.

"The observers were told that any form of engagement, no matter how insignificant, would be sufficient."

Speaking to An Phoblacht, Murray warned: "Any such change would break the commission's own guidelines and lead to a legal challenge.

"The Commission's own guidelines state that dialogue alone is not sufficient to demonstrate engagement, that dialogue has to be sustained, substantive and genuine.

"Now we are being told meaningful engagement is being dropped. This will now allow the Orange Order to simply go into a room with nationalists, say hello and walk out."

The Springfield Residents Action Group is holding a protest against the Orange Parade on the Springfield Road on the Twelfth morning at 8.45am.

People are asked to assemble at the junction of Pollard Street and Springfield Road junction.