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The Orange Order today called on Chief Constable Sir Hugh
Orde to respond to claims that he has received legal advice
stating that official parade notification forms listing an
Orange Lodge as organisers are within the law.
The Orange Order's Grand Master Robert Saulters said: "We
are reliably informed that the Chief Constable has been sitting
on legal advice for several weeks which says that the way
Orangemen in East Belfast and elsewhere have been completing
the Parades Commission's 11/1 forms is not illegal.
"If that is the case, it begs the question as to why
only this week the PSNI have questioned Orangemen, including
myself, under formal caution about their participation in
allegedly illegal parades with a view to reporting them for
prosecution," said Mr. Saulters.
"It's time Sir Hugh came clean on the legal advice he
has received and put an end to the confusion surrounding parade
notification procedures. It's clear from the comments made
by Security Minister Shaun Woodward in the House of Commons
this week that the Government is beginning to realise that
they may have got it wrong about the fact that Orange Order
parades are organised by lodges and not individuals.
"It's bad enough that the human rights of the Protestant
people of Northern Ireland continue to be trampled on by the
Parades Commission, but to discover that recent police harassment
of Orangemen may have no basis in law is absolutely outrageous."
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