Twelfth: Gavin Robinson joins his Orange lodge to walk the full distance to the Belfast field and back
The DUP leader Gavin Robinson has said that he is walking the full eight-mile round trip of today’s main Belfast Orange Parade.
Mr Robinson said that East Belfast is leading the Orange parade this year, and that at the start of the march he joined the district lodge at the very front of the procession.
Then, after the cenotaph wreath-laying ceremony, he re-joined his lodge.
Mr Robinson, who won re-election to his East Belfast constituency last week with an increased majority, said that he would be in London next week for the king’s speech.
The vast Orange parade left Carlisle Circus at 10am on its long four-mile walk to the Field in south Belfast.
Crowds applauded the procession as it made its way to Belfast City Hall for a remembrance service to honour those who died in the world wars and in service of their country.
The head of parade and leading bands then resumed their place at the front of the procession, which headed down Bedford Street, past even thicker crowds, and on towards Shaftesbury Square and the Lisburn Road.