Republican News · Thursday 4 July 2002

Mini-Twelfth reinforces Siege of Short Strand

The small nationalist enclave of the Short Strand was put under virtual military curfew last Monday night, 1 July, as thousands of Orangemen and their bands paraded around the district.

The annual Mini-Twelfth always brings tension and curfew with it but this year, on the back of two months of a loyalist siege of the area, the tension was heightened.

Thousands of Crown force personnel moved in and ringed the area with a wall of steel at the Mountpottinger Road and Albertbridge Road, along which the loyalist parade was to proceed.

However, the RUC/PSNI moved a strong force into the Short Strand itself.

These forces took up aggressive positions using cameras on the tops of Land Rovers to keep residents under surveillance.

Despite the tension, the parade passed off relatively peacefully.

Among the bands taking part in the loyalist parade were uniformed UVF bands. The UVF in East Belfast is instrumental in the ongoing siege of the Strand.

"This area has been put under curfew to facilitate an Orange Parade," said local Sinn Féin Councillor Joe O'Donnell. "The district is surrounded and you would think the people of the Short Strand were the aggressors in this situation and not thousands of Orangmen."

A delegation of residents, accompanied by Joe O'Donnell, travelled to Downing Street on Wednesday to hand in a copy of a report, titled Short Strand Under Siege, compiled by residents.