Latest instalment of Easter interface 'cross walk' - created amid loyalist feuds - declared 'fabulous'
The organiser of an annual interface event in Belfast has declared the 2025 instalment “fabulous”.
The latest final segment of the yearly west Belfast “cross walk” took place today.
A series of volunteers take it in turns to walk down the middle of the republican Falls and loyalist Shankill roads, carrying a wooden cross with ‘John 3:16’ written on it.
Organiser Jack McKee, senior pastor at the Elim New Life City Church (which straddles the interface), said that it began in about 2002 following deadly loyalist feuding as a way of “raising the cross above the gun” and reminding both communities of their shared Christian heritage.
He said today’s gathering, the last of five such daily events, had been “absolutely fabulous”.
"A lot of people on both sides of the community know what John 3:16 is. Some don’t, and ask. So we’ve an opportunity to explain it to them.
“We were all soaked today. But it’s incredible – passing buses, trucks, vans, taxis, tourists… lifting up that cross and people just seeing it for those few moments, and we hope that’s enough to get people to think about what Easter is all about.”
Does he think he has succeeded?
"We do believe that. We’ve had opportunities to talk to people and to hear people comment very positively as we’ve been passing them.”
He said that, technically, one person walking in the middle of the road does not count as a parade for the purposes of the Parades Commission.
What about safety amid the traffic?
"We’ve carried the cross over 200 days and there’s never been an incident,” he said.
"We’re always very careful.”
Sadly the rest of Easter is looking like a soggy one, says Marco Petagna of the Met Office, with a weather warning for heavy rain covering the east of Northern Ireland until 3pm tomorrow.
Sunday is expected to be “brighter”, but it will go “back downhill” on Monday with a return to more showery conditions. These look set to continue on Tuesday too.
Meanwhile countless family-themed events are taking place across the long weekend.
Among them are an Easter Egg hunt each day from 10am to 5pm at the National Trust venue of Mount Stewart outside Ards;
Steam train trips from Whitehead Railway Museum on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, 11am to 3pm;
Easter countryside horse trekking with Crindle Stables in Limavady on Monday and Tuesday from 10am to 11.30am;
And Easter-themed dancing, music, and traditional games at the Ulster American Folk Park outside Omagh on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday from 10am to 5pm.