LOYALISTS in Belfast have deplored an RUC decision to reroute an Apprentice Boys parade away from the nationalist lower Ormeau Road on Saturday.
Mr Bill Stewart, the assistant chief constable for Belfast, said yesterday the decision was taken to try and avoid the threat of confrontation.
The Walker Club of Apprentice Boys in south Belfast had planned to parade down the nationalist area early on Saturday morning, and then board buses for transportation to the main loyalist parade in Derry.
Violence erupted on the lower Ormeau during last year's Apprentice Boys parade, with clashes between local residents and the RUC. There is also a fear that there could be similar disturbances in towns such as Dunloy, Co Antrim, and Bellaghy, Co Derry, on Saturday as Apprentice Boys mobilise, before being bussed to Derry.
Mr Stewart said the decision was taken in everyone's best interests. "We hope that the rerouting will be accepted by everyone concerned. It is our fervent hope that everyone will now exert their influence on both sides to ensure peace is maintained."
Mr Ian Paisley Jnr described the decision as a "sop to the republican movement", inevitably raising tensions. "The threat by republicans to cause disorder on the Ormeau Road has prevented a peaceful and law abiding parade," he said.
Mr Sandy Geddis of the Apprentice Boys in Belfast said the decision was deplorable. The Walker Club will meet tomorrow night to decide on its response. He expected the Apprentice Boys will obey the RUC re routing.
Mr Gerard Rice, spokesman for the Lower Ormeau Concerned Community, complained of inconsistency in the RUC decision. The police were barring 20 members of the Apprentice Boys from parading down the lower Ormeau on Saturday, yet on the Twelfth they felt it correct to place the area under "25 hour curfew in order to allow 500 Orangemen and six bands, two of them from Scotland" down the road.
The illogicality of the decision was further proof that the only way to finally resolve the parades issue was through negotiation between local community groups and the loyal institutions, he added.
Mr Pat McGeown, a Belfast Sinn Fein councillor, said the RUC decision would not solve the problem over parades. "Whether on the lower Ormeau Road, or in Dunloy, or Bellaghy, or elsewhere, the loyal institutions have to enter into a dialogue with the local host communities and seek their consent to march. There is no other way to resolve this matter," he added.
Mr Steve McBride, chairman of the Alliance Party, said the ruling was inevitable, necessary and sensible. "A balance has to be found in all these situations between the rights of marchers, the rights of affected residents, and the rights of the wider community," he added.
"Finding that balance will never be helped by angry words or confrontational attitudes, by the making of unreasonable demands, or the taking of inflexible positions. It is incumbent on all concerned to do everything in their power to resolve these problems, both in the coming days and in the longer terms," said Mr McBride.
Mr Paddy Lynn, of the Workers' Party in south Belfast, said the decision was a victory for commonsense. "The decision to re route will avoid any widespread violence and inter communal strife, and must be welcomed by all those who wish to see peace and political progress once more top priorities in Northern Ireland," he added.
The Irish Republican Socialist Party while welcoming the rerouting, suspected an "ulterior motive".
"Could it be that this decision was taken in an attempt to sweeten the pill, and that the RUC intend to force the Apprentice Boys along the Derry Walls?" asked Mr Ciaran McLaughlin, a party spokesman.
