Kilkeel loyalists adopt new ``tolerant'' stance?
By Roisin Cox
In an attempt to impress the Parades Commission and demonstrate how ``unbigoted'' they are, loyalists in Kilkeel, County Down, have said that they will now tolerate the traditional 15 August Ancient Order of Hibernians parade through the town.
The loyalists are also claiming that they are being persecuted by the Parades Commission and claim that Kilkeel is a mirror image of banned Orange parades throughout the north.
David Jones, spokesperson for the Portadown District Orange Lodge, who is supporting the Kilkeel loyalists said: ``This shows the other side of the spectrum. In Portadown we are in the position of trying to get a parade along the Garvaghy Road and Kilkeel does present that mirror image, whereby you have a Protestant town with a Catholic parade.''
The new uncharacteristically ``tolerant'' stance, however, comes in light of the growing number of attacks by loyalists on nationalists in Kilkeel in recent weeks. The attacks followed a loyalist parade through the town in July.
In an attempt to further inflame an already tense situation, Kilkeel loyalists have invited Orangemen from throughout the Six Counties to a protest on 15 August to symbolically block the road before the AOH parade passes through Kilkeel. This protest will mean that hundreds if not thousands of Orangemen will congregate in Kilkeel, possibly leading to disturbances.
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