Three separate organisations are due to parade around Belfast city centre at the same time this weekend, sparking road chaos fears for the already congested area.

The parades – two of them protesting different political issues and one a drive to boost Ulster Scots – are all to head around the city hall area at lunchtime on Saturday.

That means they’ll hit the area at the same time as the city’s continental Christmas Market in the grounds of city hall hosts a much-publicised family day themed around the works of Charles Dickens, which is hoped to bring in massive crowds.

At this stage the police are staying tight-lipped about the clear potential for enormous disruption, only stating that they’ll take “an appropriate and proportional response” to the issue when questioned.

placeholder image — A pro-Palestine rally held in Londonderry over the summer. A similar event is planned for Belfast this weekend .Photo: George Sweeney

But the three parades are collectively expected to bring 1,500 participants plus well over 1,000 spectators to the same part of the city almost simultaneously.

From noon, a handful of flute bands are schedule to parade from Sandy Row to city hall for an event that combines marking the anniversary of 2012's flag protests with objecting to the closure of the nearby Boyne Bridge.

Organised by a flute band based on Sandy Row, the event will see a series of speeches outside city hall before it disperses around 2pm.

Also from noon to 2pm, the Belfast Palestine Solidarity Campaign marches from Writers Square in the Cathedral Quarter along Royal Avenue to city hall and then on to law courts near the River Lagan.

The protest is connected to arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant, as well as Hamas commander Mohammed Deif.

The ICC wants to put all three on trial for alleged war crimes connected to the conflict in Gaza.

Organisers of the protest say they marched three months ago to call upon the ICC to issue the arrest warrants, while this Saturday’s event is to demand they be carried out.

Meanwhile, the Ulster Scots Agency parades from the Cathedral Quarter along Royal Avenue to City Hall from noon to 1pm.

They’re bringing pipe bands from around Ulster as well as Highland dancers for an event they’re calling ‘the Big Dander’.

It’s the centrepiece of the agency’s first-ever Belfast Tartan Day, and includes an open invitation for pipe musicians and drum majors to join the parade in performances of traditional Scottish tunes.

Saturday also sees the Christmas Market in the grounds of city hall host the second of its Dickens-themed weekends, which will see people dressed in 19th century garb and recreations of famous characters to boost its festive feel.

Expected to be a big family favourite, the market kicks off at 10am, but will really be hitting its stride by Saturday lunchtime – adding to the pressure on streets in the heart of Belfast at that time.

Asked whether the public should watch out for disruption from the clashing parades, a PSNI spokesman said: “Police will provide an appropriate and proportionate operational response to potential traffic disruption in Belfast city centre on Saturday.”