TIME FOR COOL HEADS AND COMMON SENSE
Time for cool heads and common sense
A TRUE sense of perspective must be brought to bear over the small Apprentice Boys march on the lower part of the Ormeau Road in Belfast this morning and the 50 or so marchers should be accorded their right to proceed in a lawful manner as per the determination set out by the Parades Commission.
Tensions have been raised unnecessarily this week by extreme republican groups in Belfast and Londonderry over today's Apprentice Boys celebrations and the widely publicised presence of Sinn Fein MP Martin McGuinness on the Ormeau Road yesterday was hardly conducive to lowering the temperature in that area.
Nationalist residents who enthusiastically row in behind the Parades Commission when determinations rule against loyal order marches on the lower Ormeau Road should have little to complain about if the odd decision goes against them.
A five-minute walk on a mainly business thoroughfare before 9 o'clock in the morning is not one which reasonable people should have too much to object about.
The main Apprentice Boys parade in Londonderry, which has also been given the green light by the Parades Commission, takes in the largely commercial sector of the Maiden City's west bank around the Diamond and, with the loyalist Fountain estate the only residential quarter on this part of the route, any justification for a republican or nationalist protest is certainly treading on thin ice. Indeed, tomorrow, an Ancient Order of Hibernians parade will converge through the Londonderry city-centre area and loyalists would hardly dare raise their voices in protest over this event.
Whatever the rights of the marchers and the protestors, what should be paramount today is that a totally peaceful climate must prevail, not just on the Ormeau Road and Londonderry, but in Lurgan, Newtownbutler and Keady, where nationalist opposition to loyal order feeder parades may be mounted. Peace must also prevail tomorrow in Kilkeel where loyalists are considering a protest over an AOH parade.
The RUC has a lawful duty to enforce the rulings on the various marches and no doubt this will be exercised by officers with utmost sensitivity for the rights of all concerned, and for the security and welfare of the entire community.
The Apprentice Boys and their bands, and the members of the Royal Black Institution who will parade in Brookborough, Co Fermanagh today, must show discipline and, abiding by the guiding principles of both organisations, they must ensure that offence is given to no one as they proceed along their traditional parade routes.
Moderate nationalist influences are also playing their part in exercising restraint in the contentious areas and the editorial in yesterday's Irish News calling for an acceptance of the Parades Commission determination on the Ormeau Road parade and a recognition of the positive contribution made by the Apprentice Boys was helpful.
On this mid-summer weekend when the eyes of the world will focus on the first anniversary of the appalling Omagh bombing by the Real IRA, street violence is the last thing which the decent, law-abiding people on both sides of the religious and political divide in Northern Ireland need.
Communal strife and political agitation this weekend would further add to the pain and torment of the grieving families of the 29 people killed in last year's massacre. More poignantly, it would greatly insult the memory of the innocent victims of this most awful atrocity, and the other terrorist incidents of our Troubles of the past 30 years where thousands of innocent people also had their lives shattered.
A TRUE sense of perspective must be brought to bear over the small Apprentice Boys march on the lower part of the Ormeau Road in Belfast this morning and the 50 or so marchers should be accorded their right to proceed in a lawful manner as per the determination set out by the Parades Commission.
Tensions have been raised unnecessarily this week by extreme republican groups in Belfast and Londonderry over today's Apprentice Boys celebrations and the widely publicised presence of Sinn Fein MP Martin McGuinness on the Ormeau Road yesterday was hardly conducive to lowering the temperature in that area.
Nationalist residents who enthusiastically row in behind the Parades Commission when determinations rule against loyal order marches on the lower Ormeau Road should have little to complain about if the odd decision goes against them.
A five-minute walk on a mainly business thoroughfare before 9 o'clock in the morning is not one which reasonable people should have too much to object about.
The main Apprentice Boys parade in Londonderry, which has also been given the green light by the Parades Commission, takes in the largely commercial sector of the Maiden City's west bank around the Diamond and, with the loyalist Fountain estate the only residential quarter on this part of the route, any justification for a republican or nationalist protest is certainly treading on thin ice. Indeed, tomorrow, an Ancient Order of Hibernians parade will converge through the Londonderry city-centre area and loyalists would hardly dare raise their voices in protest over this event.
Whatever the rights of the marchers and the protestors, what should be paramount today is that a totally peaceful climate must prevail, not just on the Ormeau Road and Londonderry, but in Lurgan, Newtownbutler and Keady, where nationalist opposition to loyal order feeder parades may be mounted. Peace must also prevail tomorrow in Kilkeel where loyalists are considering a protest over an AOH parade.
The RUC has a lawful duty to enforce the rulings on the various marches and no doubt this will be exercised by officers with utmost sensitivity for the rights of all concerned, and for the security and welfare of the entire community.
The Apprentice Boys and their bands, and the members of the Royal Black Institution who will parade in Brookborough, Co Fermanagh today, must show discipline and, abiding by the guiding principles of both organisations, they must ensure that offence is given to no one as they proceed along their traditional parade routes.
Moderate nationalist influences are also playing their part in exercising restraint in the contentious areas and the editorial in yesterday's Irish News calling for an acceptance of the Parades Commission determination on the Ormeau Road parade and a recognition of the positive contribution made by the Apprentice Boys was helpful.
On this mid-summer weekend when the eyes of the world will focus on the first anniversary of the appalling Omagh bombing by the Real IRA, street violence is the last thing which the decent, law-abiding people on both sides of the religious and political divide in Northern Ireland need.
Communal strife and political agitation this weekend would further add to the pain and torment of the grieving families of the 29 people killed in last year's massacre. More poignantly, it would greatly insult the memory of the innocent victims of this most awful atrocity, and the other terrorist incidents of our Troubles of the past 30 years where thousands of innocent people also had their lives shattered.
Further Information
Publisher: NEWS LETTER
Ref: NL/411
Published Date: 14-Aug-99
Related Images
There have been no images archived for this article.