Orange anger over ruling on city march
THE Orange Order has expressed "grave concern" as the Parades Commission placed restrictions on next weekend's Whiterock parade.
Only 50 Orangemen – out of around 600 to 700 – will be allowed to take part in the traditional end of June walk in west Belfast.
This is the same determination on the parade as the past two years.
However, the Orange Order had hoped that more members would be permitted to walk this year – the 50th anniversary of the march – because it said it had attempted to engage residents on the Springfield Road.
Nationalists, in response, the Institution claimed, had been "intransigent".
The ruling leaves tension now hanging over a parade which ranks alongside Drumcree and the Ormeau Road as one of the most divisive in the Province.
Three years ago the Whiterock walk erupted into several days of major street violence across the city, when it was banned.
DUP MLA Nelson McCausland called this latest decision "a travesty of justice".
But Sean Murray of Springfield Residents Action Group said: "There was dialogue between ourselves and the Orange Order through the North and West Belfast Parades Forum. Unfortunately, we agreed to disagree."
He added: "As far as we are concerned this (determination) is a compromise from our original position and, given the violence of 2005, it is difficult for republicans to go further."
The contentious part of the parade is on the Springfield Road, and
a section of the walk which passes nationalist homes, before cutting through Lanark Way and onto the Shankill Road.
Republicans would like to see a complete re-routing of the march away from Springfield Road, through the old Mackie's Industrial Estate.
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Weather for Belfast
Saturday 11 February 2012
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Temperature: 4 C to 8 C
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