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.
nouncing 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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