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Upper Bann Democratic Unionist MP David Simpson will lead
an Orange Order delegation at a meeting with senior PSNI officers
in Lurgan this evening to discuss what the Order has described
as a serious threat to the personal safety of Orangemen and
their supporters in the town on the Twelfth.
The meeting has been arranged following the Parades Commission's
determination to ban Lurgan Orangemen from parading along
William Street, as they have done in the past, to the town's
railway station where they will board a train to join the
main Co Armagh Twelfth demonstration in Portadown.
Instead the Orangemen, accompanying bands and supporters
have been told they must disperse at Union Street and make
their way on foot as members of the public to the station.
A spokesman for the Lurgan Orange district described the
determination as "a recipe for disaster with a very real
potential for life-threatening violence.
" Given the violence others have shown towards us in
the past, we are deeply concerned that individual Orangemen
walking along William Street to the station will be picked
off and attacked - and that the police simply don't have the
resources to protect us.
"There is not even safety in numbers since the PSNI
have said Orangemen walking together along William Street
will be deemed to be parading and subject to arrest. The result
could be chaos with every prospect of widespread civil disorder.
"As usual, the Parades Commission has completely ignored
the law and order implications of its decision. Effectively
they've ensured that not only are Protestants barred from
celebrating their culture, but now they can't even catch a
train without the risk of being attacked."
The spokesman said that the main purpose of this evening's
7.30pm meeting at Lurgan Police Station will be to make clear
to the PSNI that they will be held responsible for the safety
of those making their way to the station on Tuesday.
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