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Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland
  Press Statements

Parade Ban "A Major Setback For Peace"

21 June 2004

The Orange Order today accused the Parades Commission of an act of sheer madness that could threaten law and order and raise community tensions in Belfast.

The Order described the Commission's decision to ban a traditional Orange parade along the Springfield Road this weekend as "a deeply offensive and grossly misguided slur on the unionist community that represents a major setback for the peace process."

Announcing its decision to request a review of the Commission's determination on Saturday's Whiterock Parade, a spokesman for the Order said:

"By general agreement the summer parades of the last couple of years were among the most peaceful in recent times. Now, just as politicians and other establishment figures are queuing up to call for calm again this year, the Parades Commission wades in with an act of bureaucratic hooliganism they know will only inflame the situation and make things far worse."

In seeking to appease a handful of politically motivated republican residents by banning Orangemen from the Springfield Road, said the Order's spokesman, Sir Tony Holland and his fellow commissioners had insulted thousands of people and reinforced the view that unionists are second-class citizens whose culture and traditions count for nothing.


"It is high time that the Parades Commission - who have no mandate for their actions because nobody elected them - told the people of Northern Ireland how banning unionists from certain roads so they can be classified as 'republican only' will help to build confidence in the peace process."

The spokesman added that the Order would be consulting widely with unionist politicians and others over the next few days in order to formulate a strong formal response to the Whiterock parade restrictions.

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