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15 July 2004 Edition

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Ardoyne anger justified

This week has seen a return to the bad old days of the RUC, backed up by the British Army, facing down nationalist residents to allow their Orange buddies indulge in the annual Twelfth of July triumphalist tramp through nationalist areas.

To add salt to the wound this year, the all-new-improved PSNI decided it would be better to ignore the determination of the Parades Commission twice in two days, in north Belfast and Lurgan. New uniform, same allegiance. So much for the much vaunted new beginning to policing.

In north Belfast, the Parades Commission allowed a sectarian Orange march between two nationalist areas, albeit with some conditions attached, despite the fact that the Order refuses to engage in dialogue with local residents. The PSNI then overrode even these limited conditions.

By mid-afternoon on Monday it was clear a deal had been reached between the NIO, the PSNI and unionists to herd through all the Orange coat-trailers who wanted to pass through nationalist Ardoyne. Well-known unionist paramilitaries were among those who were escorted through by the PSNI, taunting nationalist residents as they went.

The British contribution was to do nothing, except, of course, to send in a squad of inexperienced Paras to back up the PSNI, a move guaranteed to exacerbate the situation and which, but for the intervention of republicans, could have had lethal consequences.

So the Parades Commission, already derided by nationalists for decisions that fly in the face of its own expressed decision-making standards, is again exposed as a beaten docket.

Its earlier decision to buckle under threats from the Orange Order, unionist death squads and unionist politicians and force an unwanted parade along the Springfield Road, only encouraged those within the Order who believe that they can use the threat of violence to push parades through nationalist communities.

The decision to block roads in Belfast last week harked back to the days of Drumcree, when Orange Order-inspired violence was unleashed year on year across the Six Counties and, of course, was directly responsible for the deaths of the Quinn children in Ballymoney.

The Orange Order in Belfast has again insisted on heightening tensions at a time when many other groups were working tirelessly within interface communities to secure a peaceful summer.

The nationalist message to the British Government this week is simple. Orange marches should not be permitted to go where they are not wanted.

As Gerry Adams said on Tuesday, the croppies will not be lying down. We want to extend the hand of friendship, but we won't have it bitten off.


An Phoblacht
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Ireland