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Irish Times
3 days ago
- Irish Times
Orange Order parade passes through Ardoyne interface without incident
An Orange Order parade has passed the interface Ardoyne shops area in north Belfast without incident. The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) mounted a security operation after the Parades Commission granted permission for the homeward part of the Twelfth parade to take place on Sunday morning. The area had been the location for violent confrontations linked to Orange marches in the past. However, a deal was reached in 2016 that instigated a moratorium on return parades while engagement over future agreement between the Orange Order and a nationalist residents' group was sought. READ MORE The return parade on Sunday – applied for under the name The Ligoneil Combine – involved one band and 50 members, with only hymn music permitted on its way past through the area. There was no protest staged by residents as the march passed through. Fr Gary Donegan, director of the Passionist Peace and Reconciliation Office, said there had been 'trepidation' in the Ardoyne community about the parade. He said: 'We had eight years of an agreement which facilitated morning parades with no return. 'Things started to break down in that agreement two years ago. 'Ultimately, yesterday passed by peacefully with no issues, but the return was always the issue. 'When it was determined this would actually happen there was a lot of sense of trepidation within the community, a lot of sense of tension. 'People were just hoping it would pass by, which it did. 'Now we can get on with the Sunday Masses and services as normal.' Fr Donegan said there had been a 'conscious decision' by the community not to hold a physical protest against the march. He said: 'Because of the sense of the tension in the lead-up to this, the less attention drawn to it the better. 'It passed through there, it is over and now we can start to go back to normality again.' Fr Donegan said future return Orange parades through the area are now in the 'hands of the Parades Commission'. He said: 'There was an agreement that took a lot of negotiating at the time. 'Now that that seems to be no longer in existence, it is going to be each and every time the issues that pertain to this are going to be on the table each time this happens.' The parade followed traditional Twelfth of July celebrations on Saturday that brought tens of thousands of people on to the streets across Northern Ireland. The festivities marked the 334th anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne, when the Protestant King William of Orange triumphed over the Catholic King James II. Meanwhile, the traditional July 13th events organised by the Royal Black Preceptory in the village of Scarva, Co Armagh, will take place on Monday. The event includes a parade as well as a sham fight between actors playing rival monarchs William and James. The Twelfth celebrations came after the burning of bonfires at an estimated 300 locations in loyalist neighbourhoods across the region on Thursday and Friday nights. – PA
BBC News
3 days ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Orange Order parade held at north Belfast interface
An Orange Order parade at an interface in north Belfast has passed off without members and one band marched past the Ardoyne shops on Sunday area has been a flashpoint for parading tensions which have led to violent confrontations in previous Parades Commission had granted permission for the march to go ahead but with some restrictions. It assembled at Woodvale Parade at about 08:30 BST before moving along Woodvale Road and Crumlin Road towards Ligoniel Orange had said the march represented the "homeward" part of their Twelfth of July commission barred evening return parades from passing the Ardoyne shops on permitted the Sunday plans, but with conditions such as only hymn music being played past the shops and no accompanying supporters on that part of the commission said it had received some objections to the morning parade which warned it would "harm community relations".A few people observed the march but there were no formal protests organised. There was a policing presence in the area as the parade took Gary Donegan, who observed the march, said there had been a "certain anxiousness" in the he added: "It seems actually what the community has done is ignore it and if it passes by then we can just get on to Sunday."Encouraging dialogue on parading disputes, he added: "The more people talk, the less likelihood there's going to be adverse responses."The area of the Crumlin Road is an interface between mainly unionist and nationalist the past it was one of Northern Ireland's most contentious parading routes, with years of protests, violence and disorder.A deal was stuck in 2016 which sees a number of morning parades held each the agreement broke down in 2024, raising concerns of further tensions.
