The blame game was certainly in operation big time this year
as far as the Orange Institution in general and Portadown
District L.O.L. No. 1 in particular were concerned.
Critics of the Order emerged from predictable quarters, and
some not so predictable, to lambast the Order for the scenes
which took place during a 25 minute period at the bottom of
Drumcree Hill after the dignified protest by Portadown Orangemen
and their supporters had been completed on the morning of
the Annual District Service.
Let it be said right away that actions of a relatively small
section of the crowd brought the Orange Order and its cause
into disrepute and angered and disgusted the Officers of Portadown
District, and those of County Armagh Grand Lodge, who had
worked so hard and planned so hard to hold a disciplined and
dignified protest at the barrier.
The Orange Order will investigate – as it always does
any incidents which bring it or its followers into disrepute
– and will take appropriate action. There have been many
examples down the years of action being taken by the Order.
That will be the case once again, but there will have to be
investigations, and the evidence collated.
It also has to be borne in mind that arrests and charges
followed the incident, which is now subjudice, and the people
charged have the right to justice in the courts. No one has
been convicted yet – a fact completely overlooked by
most of the media.
Deplorable as this 25 minute affairs was, and the attacks
on police officers must be utterly condemned, a sense of proportion
is surely necessary in this whole thing.
This was actually the most peaceful Drumcree for years, and
had that incident not besmirched the good name of the Orange
Order and disgraced some people, most of them not Orangemen,
this year would have been a complete success as far as the
holding of the Service and the protest afterwards was concerned.
The media was there in force and it made the most of the
opportunity which presented itself at the barrier. Reporters
had come into Portadown and unfortunately some people gave
them the chance to run stories which destroyed the hope of
District L.O.L. No. 1 holding a trouble free event.
That’s fair enough, and reporters have their job to
do, so no one is objecting to this. But one has to ask why
that incident at Drumcree should be used as the whipping boy
of the Orange Order at large.
In the days and weeks following “Drumcree Sunday”
the leader writers in some papers, and the columnists had
a field day, analysing the Orange Order and its operations.
The Order was castigated, it was accused of all manner of
things, its whole future was discussed dissected, and the
editorial in some newspapers suggested the Order should not
be defending the Protestant and Reformed Faith if it causes
offence to the minority community.
The media and many of its writers just do not understand
or try to understand the Orange Institution and its ethos.
They do not try to understand the concern which many Protestants,
not just Orangemen have about the ecumenical movement and
the dangers this presents to the Reformed Faith in this nation.
Instead, they concentrate on peripheral issues which have
no real connection with the Orange Order – bonfires,
street disorders, etc. Of course these things arise on the
Twelfth and at other times of the year, but the media just
seems to love to put the boot in the Orange Order and blame
it for almost every nasty aspect of Northern Irish society.
Of course, the actions of a band of hooligans at Drumcree
were deplorable and utterly to be condemned, as were the injuries
sustained by over 20 police officers.
But on the Richter Scale of this year’s incidents during
the Twelfth, surely Drumcree was well down the scale. The
press, both local and national, could have spotlighted the
ethnic cleansing of nearly 30 Protestant families at Cluan
Place in East Belfast, the murder of a man in Tiger’s
Bay, the attacks on isolated Protestant enclaves like Suffolk
estate, and the Fountain, or the continued press on Protestants
living in the lower end of the Garvaghy Road.
Or what about the shooting of five Protestants at Cluan Place,
the vicious attacks by republicans on police by republicans
who tried to prevent peaceful Orange parades at Springfield
Road and the Ardoyne?
There was no shortage of many incidents during the Twelfth
period when Protestants were on the receiving end. But large
sections of the press and media preferred to concentrate on
Drumcree and to give that one isolated incident in a largely
peaceful week the full “treatment”.
The onus is now heavily on all Orangemen to do their utmost
to ensure that never again does an incident like this besmirch
what is largely a dignified and peaceful protest on the hill
at Drumcree. Portadown District pulled out all the stops this
year, and contrary to what the critics say, its Officers have
been involved in talks all year to try and avoid trouble and
still maintain the protest.
Those officers have paid tribute to the Archbishop of Armagh,
Lord Eames, and others including the County Grand Lodge of
Armagh, for their help and advice. Sadly, all the good work
and all the planning and preparation was undone by this small
band of irresponsible dissidents who allowed the media to
seize on their actions and demonise the order and its protest.
Portadown District has the right to protest over the way
its rights were trampled on when its traditional return route
was taken from it, and it has always accepted that the protest
must be peaceful if it is to carry the maximum weight and
be successful.
It goes without saying that every possible attempt must be
made in the 12 months that lie ahead before Drumcree –
Garvaghy Road 2003 to ensure that such a self destruct incident
does not occur again.
Portadown District and the Grand Lodge and County Lodge will
be studying every aspect of this year’s largely peaceful
protest to see how further improvements can be made, and how
to avoid a repeat of the 25 minutes of madness which undermined
so much hard work and planning which went into this year’s
protest.
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