9 April 1998 Edition

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Apprentice Boys barred

In the first use of its statutory powers the Parades Commission has ordered that the Apprentice Boys parade due to march down the Lower Ormeau Road on Easter Monday be re-routed away from the area.

Announcing the decision, Commission chairperson Alistair Graham said that he hoped for ``prospects for one or more Loyal Order parade along the Lower Ormeau in 1998.''

Reacting to the decision, the Lower Ormeau Concerned Community (LOCC) said that this remark had ``no basis'' and that it believed that the ``Commission's next move would be to try and by-pass the LOCC.'' In calling off their planned counter-protest for Easter Monday, the LOCC said, ``the best way forward is for parades to stay away from areas where they are not wanted until such time as the Loyal Orders are capable of securing the agreement of local residents.''

The LOCC also said it was to continue its bid for a judicial review to overturn the recent appointments to the Parades Commission. It said that despite the decision, the Commission still lacked ``balance and impartiality''.

Revelations that John Steele and Stephen Leach, Director and Associate Director for policing and security at the NIO (who were widely believed to have been involved in the NIO's Gameplan document in July 1997, whose aim was to ``get some Orange feet on the Garvaghy Road'') had been on the interview panel which appointed Glenn Barr and Tommy Cheevers, led the LOCC to claim that the same agenda as operated in 1997 was being followed.

The LOCC said, ``the Parades Commission statement indicates their true agenda - to get Orange feet on the Lower Ormeau Road'' and renewed its unconditional offer of dialogue with the Loyal Orders.


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