SDLP to refer march to O'Loan

SDLP leader Mr Mark Durkan met Northern Secretary Mr Paul Murphy at Hillsborough and questioned the handling of the Ardoyne parade…

SDLP leader Mr Mark Durkan met Northern Secretary Mr Paul Murphy at Hillsborough and questioned the handling of the Ardoyne parade.

"Questions need to be asked about the Parades Commission's determination on the Ardoyne march, and about the way in which the police went against the spirit and logic of the determination," Mr Durkan said.

"We are not going to join the chorus that is trying to scapegoat the commission," said Mr Durkan, "and take us back to a situation where the police made operational decisions to give in to the larger threat.

"We don't want the police determining anything on parades, we want them to uphold determinations of the commission.

READ MORE

"We can't afford to do without the Parades Commission, just as we can't afford to do without what the SDLP has delivered in terms of the implementation of the Patten Report.

"The SDLP will continue to use the policing institutions to hold the police to account for what they do, and for what they don't do. We are going to stay the course to deliver fully on Patten."

He said the party intends to raise the policing of the Ardoyne march with the police ombudsman, Ms Nuala O'Loan.

He said: "Nationalists in Ardoyne feel a real anger at being hemmed in and sealed off for the convenience of so-called supporters of a parade.

"Worse, there are consistent reports that these supporters were waving blue UDA flags, singing sectarian songs and shouting threats . . .

"\ was no way to handle parades, no way to handle community relations and no way to handle policing," the SDLP leader said.