Republican News · Thursday 26 June 2003

Springfield residents call for support

Springfield Road residents in Belfast are calling on nationalists to support their protest against an Orange Parade along the nationalist road this coming Saturday, 28 June.

They have accused the Parades Commission of buckling under Orange Order pressure by giving the parade the go ahead, despite the Order's refusal to entire into meaningful dialogue with either the residents or the Parades Commission. Springfield residents had put forward a compromise proposal that could have led to their support for a parade that is always provocative.

Commenting on the decision, West Belfast MP Gerry Adams criticised the Parades Commission.

"Despite the Orange Order's refusal to engage with residents, who brought forward an imaginative compromise which could have allowed the parade to proceed on the basis of agreement, the Parades Commission turned logic on its head by rewarding the Orange Order for not entering dialogue," he said.

"In recent years, Orange parades have been forced through the Springfield Road area, despite objections from local residents. This has resulted in a massive oppressive military presence and serious violence because of PSNI tactics. It was in the context of this that local residents presented their five-point plan to the Parades Commission and the Orange Order.

"The Springfield Community Initiative provided a basis for the parade to proceed this year with nationalist support. However, the Parades Commission has now rewarded the Orange Order with a march through the nationalist Springfield Road even though they refused to discuss the compromise with the residents or the Parades Commission itself.

"This decision defies logic and has left many residents on the Springfield and nationalists in general questioning the partiality of the Parades Commission."

Residents' spokesperson Sean Murray has accused the Parades Commission of rewarding the Orange Order's complete intransigence by giving them everything they wanted, even though it has been the residents who have been talking to groups across the interface to try to bring about a resolution to this yearly problem.

"Even to put this initiative forward took a lot of courage from the nationalist community, only for the Orange Order to totally reject it," he said. "The Orange Order not only refused to meet with us, but also refused to engage with the Parades Commission and once again it is they who have been rewarded for their total intransigence."

Murray said the parade this year will be the biggest yet, comprising of 16 bands and almost 900 marchers. "These are not local people marching in this parade as the Orange Order would have us believe, the majority of the participants are not even from West Belfast," he said.

Springfield Road residents are calling on nationalists from throughout Belfast to support an anti-sectarian protest march on Saturday 28 June. Those attending should assemble at 2pm at Cupar Street.