New protest planned after open-top bus rally against dismantling of the Boyne Bridge - and it will mark the Union flag protests too
A fresh protest is planned in the weeks ahead after last night’s gathering aimed at saving Belfast’s Boyne Bridge.
This time it will be a lunchtime protest on a Saturday, instead of an evening protest on a weekday.
The scope of the protest will also be wider; as well as the issue of the bridge, it will also commemorate the 12th anniversary of the flag protests.
Last night’s rally – during which speakers addressed the crowd from an open-topped bus, rather than a platform – took place at the William of Orange mural in Sandy Row, and was motivated in large part by opposition to the pending dismantling of the adjacent Boyne Bridge.
The Boyne Bridge Defenders Facebook page, run by organiser Billy Dickson, posted online today: “A very big thank you to all who supported the ‘Save Sandy Row’ rally yesterday. It looked great from from the top deck of the bus. It was very encouraging for everyone present.
"Next parade and rally will be on Saturday, November 30, departing from opposite Sandy Row Orange Hall at 12.30pm for a rally at the front gates of City Hall.
"It will mark the 12th anniversary of the Union Flag Protest, but will also focus on other issues that are of concern to Protestant and Unionist areas throughout the city.
"The parade will stop for a short protest at the Boyne Bridge. We are looking for a few more bands to take part.”
The looming end for the Boyne Bridge will still be a prominent issue in the upcoming protest, Mr Dickson told the News Letter, but he added that “we’re going to widen the issues” to include “the housing situation in unionist areas”.
He said: “Anyone who travels round Belfast sees the difference between what’s happening in unionist areas and nationalist areas, and you don’t have to go too far to see the difference”.
Mr Dickson said police officers had estimated the number of people at Tuesday night’s rally to be around 200.
Mr Dickson had put four motions to the crowd for them to consider, all of which he said passed with a show of hands.
One was to “refute all claims made by Translink that their plans to demolish the bridge has the support of the Sandy Row community... we therefore call upon translink to stop all plans to demolish the bridge with immediate effect”.
The second one called for the bridge to be listed, and said it was “ridiculous in the extreme” that this had not happened to date.
A third motion called for Translink to cut the number of trains going between Dublin and the new Grand Central Station, and a fourth demanded more social housing for Sandy Row.
At the heart of the whole Boyne Bridge saga is the development of Grand Central Station.
The massive engineering project has been in the works for years, and finally opened this summer.
But the creation of this vast new bus-and-rail terminal meant the old Great Victoria Street station nearby became redundant.
The Boyne Bridge allowed trains and buses to enter the old station, which is now shut.
As such, Translink wants to get rid of the Boyne Bridge (over which Durham Street runs) and replace it with a flat road, complete with a big plaza next to the new station.
Sandy Row is a loyalist-dominated district neighbouring the station, at the southern end of the Boyne Bridge (which is currently shut, pending demolition).
Mr Dickson has complained that Sandy Row has not benefitted from the massive investment in the new station, and that the area continues to be neglected.