Irish Republican News · June 8, 2019

Anti-Catholic marches defeated in Glasgow

A court has upheld a council decision to re-route Orange Order parades in Glasgow away from a Catholic church, leading to the parades being cancelled entirely by the Orange Order.

Four provocative marches on Saturday and Sunday were due to pass a church where a Catholic priest was attacked last year. Orange Order groups this week lost a court challenge to overturn the council decision to alter the routes.

The parades were due to pass St Alphonsus Church on London Road, where Canon Tom White was spat on during the Orange Order Boyne march last July. Glasgow City Council said the changes had been made after Police Scotland raised concerns of disorder.

Loyalist marchers have now called off the parades and said they were “disappointed” at being prevented from marching past the church. The local Apprentice Boys organisation said it would “regroup and rethink our strategy moving forward.”

Jeanette Findlay, from the Call it Out anti-sectarian organisation, said she hoped other local authorities in Scotland take heed of the decision “because this is not just a Glasgow problem, it’s a Scotland-wide problem.”

She said: “This gives the council the legal certainty that what they have been saying is correct. It allows them to make the decisions that protect all parts of the community and protect all our rights.”

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