Long march of shame II
The several hundred anti-agreement unionists who gathered on Saturday 25 September for the second leg of the `Long March' let their political slip show when they unfurled their `Real Victims - No Terrorists in Government' banner as they set off from the staunchly loyalist Sandy Row.
Despite the protestations of march organisers that they have no political axe to grind, the fact that `No unionists' such as DUP members Nigel Dodds and Paul Berry and Jim Rodgers and Frazer Agnew of the UUP are prominent organisers suggests the reality is somewhat different.
With anti-Agreement Tory Andrew Hunter, Cedric Wilson of the NIUP, Ian Paisley Jnr. and Jeffrey Donaldson all lending their political weight to the campaign, it is increasingly obvious that this campaign is a platform for the anti-Agreement lobby.
High on the marchers' political hit list is the review of the Good Friday Agreement and the possible formation of an executive with Sinn Féin and the UUP.
Before the march left Sandy Row for Belfast City Hall, prominent march organiser and Craigavon `No man' Jonathan Bell of the UUP articulated this, saying the ``people are concerned that there is pressure to put terrorists into the government of `Northern Ireland'''.
Michelle Williamson, whose mother and father were killed in the 1993 Shankhill bomb; Jim Dixon, injured in Enniskillen; and Thelma Thompson, whose RUC son was one of the last killed, were also at the head of the march. They were joined by Willie Frazer of Families Acting for Innocent Relatives (FAIR) and prominent Portadown Orange Order members, members of the Orange Institution in Templemore, and bands.
At Belfast City Hall, the marchers, in defiance of a City Hall ruling, laid a wreath at the British Cenotaph War Memorial, where Portadown Orange District Master Harold Gracey and other leading Orangemen gathered. At Stormont, Orange grandmaster Robert Saulters placed a wreath at Carson's statue before launching into a defence of the RUC.
Sinn Féin victims spokesperson Gerry Kelly dismissed the march as, ``simply a platform Orangeism, for intolerance, for those who wish to defend the indefensible, the RUC, and for those who will never accept the legitimate electoral aspirations of people who they wish to continually dehumanise''.
Relatives for Justice spokesperson Eilish McCabe urged positive and inclusive initiatives to build trust rather than division:
``Belfast City Council took the right decision in not permitting the laying of wreaths in what can only be described as a stunt. Those politicians involved in organising Saturday's march sought only division rather than the interests of those who have suffered. ``Society needs to send an unambiguous message to those who continue to sow the seeds of division and who choose to use one of the most sensitive of issues as a vehicle to do so, that it is wrong.
``Relatives for Justice are calling on all civic bodies, those tasked with delivering community services, church leaders and others to involve themselves with and to initiate positive programmes which engage all victims/survivors on an inclusive basis. This will contribute greatly towards building and understanding and hopefully bridge the current disparity between all of those who have suffered.''
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