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Marching Season 2005 - The Story So Far
It's getting near the 12th and all the usual issues with the marching season are bubbling to the surface. I'm not overly interested in the Orange Order and I certainly have no love for paramilitary bands that accompany some of the parades so I don't follow the events in too much detail. There are a couple of things I have noticed so far though.
Londonderry
Orange Order lodges from outside Londonderry will be allowed to march in the city on the Twelfth for the first time in 13 years. This came about through what were essentially talks between the Orange Order and the city's chamber of commerce, and between the chamber of commerce and the Bogside residents group. I've yet to find any details of exactly what accommodations were made, the media just hyped up how wonderful it was that they're all playing nice - and indeed it's got to be good news. I guess I'm just curious and would like to hear more than just congratulations.
Ardoyne
Sinn Fein's Gerry Adams would never miss an opportunity to try and gain a political advantage out of any situation and while others have been talking of accommodation he had a rather different tone. As the Parades Commission ruled that an Orange parade could proceed past the Ardoyne shops (but not down the Garvaghy Road) with certain provisos about band music and supporters behaviour, Adams made a 'promise' to the media. He said that republican former prisoners had provided a service in recent years, calming tensions at contentious parades. He then went on to say "The arrest of Sean Kelly means that I for one, and I speak for our group, won't put pressure on any former prisoner to provide this type of service."
Very cunningly worded, but remove the Newspeak and what it seems to boil down to is "You arrested a terrorist so we're going to make sure there's as much trouble as possible come your dirty Orange parade. You'll have to keep us sweet in future, silly Brits."
So you see, now the Ardoyne "protestors," who attacked women and children at the Tour of the North less than 3 weeks ago, get to cause as much shit as they want and really, as usual, this will be Britain's fault. I hope you're all beginning to understand how this works now. I'm expecting an announcement any day now from Sinn Fein explaining how it was Britain's fault that Celtic lost the Scottish League to Rangers this year and thus the riots that followed that incident can also be blamed on dirty Brits.
All these links are from the BBC because while I found links in the Newsletter and Derry Journal, I know the Newsletter (and suspect the Derry Journal) hide their old stories after a while unless you pay to register with them.