Twelfth of July marches:UP TO half a million bandsmen, members of Orange institutions, and supporters have marked the 319th anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne at 18 demonstrations.
By far the largest parade was in Belfast where more than 100 lodges paraded behind 60 bands from across Northern Ireland, Scotland and further afield.
Now branded “Orangefest” in an effort to broaden its appeal beyond Belfast unionists, the march drew tens of thousands on the streets of the city centre where stores and other businesses opened and street performers and buskers entertained the crowds.
There was a significant attendance of senior Orange figures from across the world, many of whom where in Belfast last week for the Imperial Orange Council, an international forum for the organisation.
In total some 600 separate marches had been given official approval by the Parades Commission, almost all of them completed without serious incident.
The main demonstrations were addressed by senior Orange leaders who called for tolerance from nationalists and respect for Orange members as equals in society.
Grand secretary Drew Nelson, speaking in Bangor, Co Down, struck a popular theme: “Nationalist politicians, if they believe in a shared future for Northern Ireland, need to show some respect for the Orange Order.”
He added: “During the last few years, we have reached out to the nationalist community as never before, meeting with the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Ireland, the SDLP and the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church.
“We did so in a spirit of openness and goodwill. But that spirit of goodwill is not being reciprocated by nationalist and republican political leaders.”
He criticised references to the loyal orders as “sectional, sectarian, deeply divisive and provocative”.
He accused nationalists who “regularly compare us to the Ku Klux Klan”.
“They seem to indicate a growing intolerance for the institution, within nationalist and republican political leadership, which we cannot understand,” he said.
Mr Nelson linked such comments to the three-fold rise in sectarian attacks mounted against Orange property this year.
He concluded: “I challenge nationalist and republican political leaders to step out of the past and accept the Orange Order for what it is – a Protestant and British organisation working hard for its members and their interests. The Orange institution is asking whether we are welcome in the shared society advocated by nationalism and republicanism for Northern Ireland?”
Speaking in Ballymoney, Co Antrim, grand master Robert Saulters praised King William III who had “brought to the United Kingdom the bill of rights which still stands today for civil and religious liberties for all”.
He added: “I ask you, how can you improve on that bill of rights. But there are people in this country today trying to change that bill of rights of 1689.
“My goodness if this government had one tenth of the brains the politicians and rulers of the 17th century had this country would not be in the mess that we are in today.” Lambasting the British government, he said: “Our troops are fighting terrorism in foreign lands with inferior tools to do the job whilst all the time MPs are busy fiddling their own expenses to feather their own nests while the United Kingdom falls apart.”
William Thompson, speaking at a large demonstration in Lisburn, Co Antrim, extolled the value and place of Protestantism in Northern society.
“Our very existence is a demonstration of that faith and its positive working,” he said.
“Despite what opponents of our institution argue, we are not bigots. We are a people proud of our identity, our culture and above all our faith.”