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Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland
  Press Statements

Orangemen Warn Security Minister Of Renewed Hate Campaign Against Parades

18 January 2005

Northern Ireland Security Minister Ian Pearson has promised to look into how the PSNI polices Parades Commission determinations, following a meeting this week with a delegation of senior Belfast Orangemen and Unionist MLAs.

The meeting was called to highlight what the Orange Order has described as its "seriously deteriorating" relationship with the East Belfast police Commander following his handling of alleged breaches of Parades Commission determinations last July.

The MLAs on the delegation who included Sir Reg Empey, Robin Newton and Michael Copeland, told the Minister that the PSNI's ineptitude and pettiness was undermining the efforts of the Orange Order and other groups to reduce community tensions in East Belfast.

Mr Pearson was also warned of the likelihood of Sinn Fein stepping up its hate campaign against Loyal Order parades in 2005 to try and divert attention away from its current political difficulties arising from the IRA's Northern Bank raid.

Commenting on the meeting, Dawson Bailie, the Orange Order's Belfast County Grand Master, said: "We left the Minister in no doubt that the Parades Commission was now so badly damaged by its crass determinations over the years that nothing short of disbandment would be acceptable."

The delegation also expressed concerns that any attempt to include parade supporters in proposed new parading legislation would be viewed as a further attempt to curtail the Protestant community's freedom to express its cultural heritage, and that such proposals could have serious ramifications.

Describing Monday's meeting as "constructive", the Orange Order's East Belfast District Master Raymond Spiers said: "We invited Mr Pearson to experience Orange culture at first hand and got him to agree to respond to the various issues we raised, including the way the PSNI enforces parade determinations and how it investigates any alleged breaches."

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