Garvaghy residents fear march will go ahead
by Laura Friel
``..upon retiring from service, on the different roads leading to
their respective homes, they gave full scope to the anti-papal
zeal with which [the service] had inspired them, falling upon
every Catholic they met, beating and bruising them without
distinction, breaking the doors and windows of their houses, and
actually murdering two unoffending peasants..'' The Drumcree
church parade of 1795, and antecedent of the present day Orange
Order's July service, described by historian Francis Plowden in
his ``History of Ireland'' published 1809.
As a Drumcee standoff is announced by Orangemen, nationalist
residents remain fearful that an Orange parade will be forced
through the Garvaghy Road despite the Parades Commission's
decision to re-route next Sunday's parade.
Even before the Commission's decision was announced RUC Chief
Ronnie Flanagan had declared his intention to force the parade
through if loyalists threatened a replay of the siege of 1996.
David Jones, spokesperson of the Portadown district of the Orange
Order, said he did not recognise the Commission or its rulings.
``If stopped, we are looking at a 1996 situation,'' he said.
Posters and leaflets calling for a campaign of mass intimidation
had already been distributed in loyalist areas throughout the Six
counties.
Delivering the Parades Commission's decision, Chairperson
Alistair Graham said, ``Given the absence of any positive move
towards accommodation we cannot see at this stage how a parade
could proceed again this year without having a very serious
impact on community relationships, both locally and more widely
across Northern Ireland.''
Privately, a commissioner admitted believing ``whatever we say,
they'll go down'' the Garvaghy Road.
Armagh Grand Master Denis Watson announced the Portadown
district's decision to ignore the Commission's ruling and engage
in a standoff. Watson is one of 35 members of the Orange Order
elected to the Assembly. He said Orangemen intended to walk down
the Garvaghy Road, ``Portadown District are prepared to stand at
Drumcree for 365 days for the principle and right to return and
walk along the Garvaghy Road back into Portadown.''
Orange Grand Master Robert Saulters said Orangemen were
determined all this summer's parades would go ahead along
intended routes. Saulters said Orange leaders would maintain
their stance in not meeting residents' groups ``influenced by
terrorist organisations''. In an unprecedented move Saulters has
written to every Orangeman in the Six counties, over 70,000 in
total, urging them to take a stand against ``further assaults on
Orange culture and tradition.''
Ballynafeigh Orange Lodge have declared they will protest ``for as
long as it takes'' if the Commission re-routes their parade away
from the Lower Ormeau Road.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for a group calling itself the Antrim
Protestant Association, Eddie Baird, said the group was preparing
to block all roads to Belfast Internatinal airport if Orangemen
were prevented from walking down Garvaghy Road. The possiblity of
violence could not be ruled out, Baird said. Dismissing a ruling
by the Parades Commission banning a protest march to the airport,
Baird said ``reinforcements'' were being brought in from
Ballyclare, Ballymena and Coleraine to block the roads, ``We have
lorries, diggers and tractors,'' he said.
Emerging from a two hour meeting with British Secretary of State
Majorie Mowlam, David Trimble said the Commission's decision had
``put us all on course for confrontation with quite considerable
consequences and implications for society as a whole.'' Trimble
called for the decision to re-route the Drumcree parade to be
overruled by Mowlam. Calling for ``good sense to prevail'', Mowlam
appealed for ``both parade organisers and those who object to
parades to show a single-minded determination to reach local
arrangement''. However Garvaghy residents' offers of dialogue with
the Orange Order continue to be rebuffed. In a lack of moral
leadership, despite being MP for the Garvaghy area, Trimble has
steadfastly refused to meet nationalist constituents to discuss
the Drumcree parade.
Spokesperson for the Garvaghy residents, Breandan Mac Cionnaith,
said that it was not for the residents to defuse the situation.
``The only people threatening disruption, the only people
threatening widespread protest, the only people threatening the
peace process is the Orange Order.''
The British government had made a commitment in the Agreement to
equality under the law, said MacCionnaith, and the Prime Minister
must ensure the rule of law was upheld on Garvaghy Road.
Appealing for calm ahead of Sunday's parade, Gerry Adams called
on the British government to stand up for the rights of Garvaghy
Road nationalists. Speaking after an hour-long meeting with
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in Dublin, Adams said it was wrong to put
pressure on Garvaghy residents to accept a parade. ``No one should
be putting pressure on any beleaguered community anywhere
especially not the people of the Garvaghy Road. They have
suffered days of shame, this year, last year and the year
before,'' said Adams.
He said he had urged Tony Blair to stand up for the Agreement
which talks of equality and which says people should be free from
sectarian harassment. ``The responsibility of democrats is to
stand by the people of Garvaghy Road, the people of Garvaghy Road
deserve a day free from sectarian harassment,'' Adams said.
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