Ipec - XX - IPEC07

11 years on
orange marches and nationalist

resistance, 1997-2007
international observers report, northern ireland 2007
irish Parades emergency committee and Brehon law society
ii 11 YEARS ON
Eleven years onOrange marches and nationalist resistance 1997-2007: International observers report,
Northern Ireland 2007 (New York: Irish Parades Emergency Committee and Brehon Law Society, 2008).
IPEC and the Brehon Law Society dedicate this report to Rosemary Nelson, fearless defender of human
rights, murdered March 15th, 1999. Attorney for the residents coalitions from the year of their inception
until her death, Rosemary Nelson transformed community resistance into legal action. She was friend as
well as solicitor. Our lives are poorer for her passing. Let us, in Rosemarys memory, forge real reform
in policing and the administration of the law so that counsel shall never again lose their lives in Northern
Ireland for simply doing what any just society demands of them.
Irish Parades Emergency Committee & Brehon Law Society, 2008. May be reprinted freely as a whole
document, with attribution. May not be excerpted without permission.
Observer organizations: This report is a joint project of the Irish Parades Emergency Committee
(IPEC) and the Brehon Law Society. IPEC and Brehon Law Society observers were present before, dur-
ing, and after loyal order parades in several communities in Northern Ireland in July 2007. These commu-
nities are Belfasts Short Strand, Ardoyne, Lower Ormeau Road, and Springfield Road neighborhoods, as
well as Portadown, Co. Armagh. This report documents our principal observations and offers an analysis
of issues that arise from these contentious parades and the context in which they occur.
The Irish Parades Emergency Committee (IPEC) was formed in 1997 as an independent
human rights monitoring organization in response to the increasing violence surrounding Orange and
other loyal order parades in nationalist neighborhoods of Northern Ireland. The committee has, for the
past 11 years, trained and coordinated international observers to serve as independent witnesses. IPEC is
based in New York City. The 2007 delegation included human rights lawyers from Rome and Australia,
and American activists and lawyers working on a wide range of issues.
The Brehon Law Society is an Irish-American bar association founded in 1978. Its primary focus has
been the monitoring and eradication of violations of human rights and civil liberties in Northern Ireland. It is
the only such human rights group to enjoy official NGO (non-governmental organization) status at the United
Nations. Brehon Law Society members have traveled to Northern Ireland to monitor parades since 1997.
All IPEC and Brehon Law Society observers are volunteers. They pay their own expenses,
travel on their own holiday time from work, and follow the guidelines set out by the organizations, includ-
ing a commitment to observe, record, and report, without taking an active role in events as they unfold.
Communities request the presence of observers at contentious parades. Of the
several thousand parades in Northern Ireland each year, only a small numberthose which are routed
through predominantly nationalist, Catholic neighborhoodsare contested.
IPEC and Brehon Law Society observers meet with a broad range of communities
and organizations. These include the Orange Order, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI),
political parties (including unionist and nationalist parties), the Public Prosecution Service, and other
governmental entities in Ireland, Britain, and the United States. They share their observations with legal
representatives, the Police Ombudsmans Office, the PSNI, other government officials, political parties,
and community-based organizations in Ireland, Britain, and the United States.
Cover photos.
background. E|eventh night
bonfire at Pitt Park, East
Be|fast, across the street
from St. Matthews Catho|ic
Church, Ju|y 11, 2007.
top |eft. The North Down
Defenders promotes the
out|awed U|ster Defence
Association through f|ags,
emb|ems, and mi|itary
uniforms, a|| in vio|ation
of the |aw and parades
regu|ations. Photo from
Short Strand, Ju|y 12, 2007.
|ower right. Orangemen
parade through Ardoyne in
front of a band promoting
the out|awed U|ster Defence
Association, a group that
has ki||ed many Ardoyne
residents. Ju|y 12, 2007.
Orange marches and nationa|ist resistance, 1997-2007 iii
Contents
ROSEmARy NELSON, 19581999 Iv
I. ExECuTIvE SummARy 1
Parading loyalist paramilitarism 3
II. EyEwITNESS REPORTS fROm PARAdES, SummER 2007 8
Portadown, Co. Armagh, July 8, 2007 8
Short Strand, Belfast, July 12, 2007 9
Springfield Road, Belfast, July 12, 2007 20
Ormeau Road, July 12, 2007 evening parade 22
Ardoyne, North Belfast, July 12, 2007 26
III. CONTINuINg SECTARIANISm 28
Iv. whAT mARChINg mEANS: dIffERINg PERSPECTIvES 32
v. POLICINg ANALySIS 36
The Past 37
The Present 44
vI. CONCLuSION 47
ACkNOwLEdgEmENTS 49
iv 11 YEARS ON
Rosemary Nelson, 19581999
Rosemary Nelson fought courageously for human rights in Ireland. Her name is synonymous with
nationalist resistance to Orange parades. She is survived by her husband and three children.
Rosemary earned her law degree in 1989 from Queens University in Belfast and prac-
ticed law from her offices in Lurgan, County Armagh, where she was born and raised. While
she was well known for representing republican defendants in criminal cases, Rosemary
began her career in civil cases and represented members of both communities.
Rosemary worked with nationalists resisting Orange marches since the inception of the movement. She
represented the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition in Portadown and the Lower Ormeau Road Action
Group in Belfast. Her work brought international acclaim as well as death threats to her and her fam-
ily and physical assaults from the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), Northern Irelands police force.
In 1998, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Dato Param
Curamaswamy, noted these threats in his annual report and stated publicly that he believed her life was
in danger. His recommendations concerning threats from police against lawyers were not acted upon.
Later that year, Rosemary testified before the US House of Representatives International Operations and
Human Rights Sub-committee hearing on human rights in Northern Ireland. She spoke of the abuses she
had suffered at the hands of the RUC and the conditions defense attorneys face in the Northern Ireland.
The UN recommendations concerning threats from police against lawyers were not acted upon either.
Rosemary was killed on March 15, 1999 by a bomb placed under her car. The Red Hand
Defenders, a name often used by loyalist paramilitary groups wishing to obscure or pro-
tect their actual loyalist paramilitary affiliation, claimed responsibility. There is suspi-
cion that the British government colluded with loyalist paramilitaries in her murder.
Rosemarys murder generated international outrage. The US Congress, the European Parliament and
the United Nations all called for independent inquiries. The British government appointed Judge Peter
Corey to report and make recommendations regarding the allegations of collusion by security forces
in several murders in the North, including Rosemarys. The Corey Collusion Inquiry Report issued in
2004 and recommended that an inquiry into the circumstances of Rosematys death be convened.
In 2005 Paul Murphy, then the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, announced an investigation into
Rosemarys murder. In October of 2007 the Inquiry announced that it would begin full hearings on April 15, 2008.
In July of 1998, IPEC observer and videographer Eileen Clancy produced an interview with Rosemary
about the difficulty of her work in Northern Ireland. The videotape interview, which will be shown at
the Inquiry into her murder, is available on our website and can be found at www.ipecobservers.org
Her presence and her devotion to social justice inspired us and is a very real part of our work. Eleven
years on: Orange marches and nationalist resistance, 1997-2007 is dedicated to her memory.
Orange marches and nationa|ist resistance, 1997-2007 1
I. Executive summary
Internationals with the Irish Parades Emergency Committee (IPEC) and the Brehon
Law Society observed contested parades and the tensions surrounding them in several
communities in July, 2007. These included four Belfast neighborhoods as well as
Portadown, Co. Armagh.
Over the past decade we have witnessed significant improvements in the policing of
parades and in the British states management of controversial loyal order parades near
or through nationalist, mostly Catholic areas. This improvement is especially evident
in Derry and Portadown. Alongside the dramatic changes we have witnessed since the
growth of the peace process in the mid-1990s, the improved policing and handling of
contested Apprentice Boys and Orange Order parades appears to have correlated with
an improvement in living conditions and movement towards normalization for most
residents of those communitiesboth unionists and nationalists.
IPEC and Brehon Law Society observers are hopeful that the positive trends in
parades we have documented over the past decade will continue. Still, it is essential
that political progress keep pace with the changes we have seen during the height of
marching season. We are pleased that the power-sharing government agreed to under
the 1998 Good Friday Agreement was finally put back into place in 2007. We are
hopeful that local government will meet the challenges of the future and reflect the
concerns and demands of both Catholic and Protestant communities.
The continued promotion of loyalist paramilitaries and sectarian songs and taunts at
parades forced through nationalist areas undermines the Good Friday Agreements fun-
damental guarantee of freedom from sectarian harassment. Sectarian attacks, such as
the burning of Gaelic Athletic Association clubs and Orange halls also demonstrate just
how far the north of Ireland still has to go to make sectarianism history.
Ardoyne residents protest
Orange and |oya|ist
parades through their
community, Ju|y 12, 2007.
2 11 YEARS ON
dEfINITIONS Of TERmS: uNIONISTS, NATIONALISTS,
LOyALISTS ANd REPuBLICANS
Nationalists are Irish-identified residents of Northern Ireland who aspire to
British withdrawal from Ireland and Irish reunification and who employ peace-
ful means toward accomplishing that goal.
Republicans are Irish-identified residents of Northern Ireland. Some republicans
have used violence to achieve the goal of an end to British political and military
rule in Northern Ireland; however, for the past decade mainline republicans have
supported a ceasefire, the peace process, and decommissioning. Most, but cer-
tainly not all, nationalists and republicans are Catholic, though many who might
identify as Catholic are not religious.
Loyalists are British-identified residents of Northern Ireland, many of whom
have been willing to use violence to maintain British and unionist rule in the
north. Loyalist violence often randomly targets Irish Catholics and nationalists
due to their perceived ethnicity, religion, or political identity. Most loyalists
and unionists are Protestant, though many who might identify as Protestant
are not religious.
unionists are British-identified residents of the north who oppose violence
as a means toward maintaining the union with Britain. Most are Protestant.
Traditionally most unionist leaders in business and politics were also members
of the Orange Order. From 1920 to 1972 unionists ruled Northern Ireland as
a sectarian state, discriminating against the Catholic minority in employment,
housing, policing, and other areas. As a result, rates of poverty, unemployment,
and emigration among Catholics were extremely high. Perceptions of contested
Orange marches forced through Catholic areas by the British state must be
understood in this recent historical context.
Both republicans and loyalists have killed civilians, as have the unionist-aligned
police and British army. Since 1997 the Irish Republican Army (IRA) has been
on ceasefire. In 2005 the IRA declared an end to its armed campaign, renounced
It is essential that leaders in Dublin, London, and Washington support full implementa-
tion of the Good Friday Agreement. This includes the full transfer of policing and the
judiciary to the six-county power-sharing government. This also means addressing not
only outstanding concerns regarding Orange parades, but the root causes of the con-
flict: sectarianism, partition, and continued disproportionate economic disadvantage in
Catholic communities.
Loyalists are British-
identified residents
of Northern Ireland,
many of whom have
been willing to use
violence to maintain
British and unionist
rule in the north
violence, and decommissioned all of its weapons. Small groupings of republi-
cans oppose the peace process and have not ceased violent acts. Since the Good
Friday Agreement of 1998 some loyalist groups have maintained a ceasefire and
others have not; frequently even loyalist groups ostensibly on cease-fire have
used cover names to claim credit for sectarian murders and attacks. Loyalist
paramilitary groups referred to within this report include: the UVF (Ulster
Volunteer Force), the UDA (Ulster Defence Association), the UFF (Ulster
Freedom Fighters, a cover name for the UDA), the LVF (Loyalist Volunteer
Force), and the RHD (Red Hand Defenders), which has been used as a cover
name for both UDA and LVF attacks.
1
In this report we refer to communities like the Short Strand, Ardoyne, and
Maghera as nationalist and sometimes nationalist/republican, because that
is how residents of those communities generally refer to themselves. We
refer to areas like East Belfast (outside the Short Strand), Glenbryn, and the
Shankill Road as unionist/loyalist, as residents of those communities use
both terms to self-identify.
Parading loyalist paramilitarism
Increasing paramilitary presence: Despite a legal prohibition of paramilitary displays
at parades, IPEC and Brehon Law Society observers have documented the steady
presence of loyalist paramilitary flags, emblems, and verbal support at Orange Order
and other loyal order marches since 1996. Paramilitary groups actively engaged in
attacks on nationalists and Catholics were once again promoted openly by bands
marching through or past some nationalist communities in 2007.
Legacy of sectarian violence: Since 1969, loyalist paramilitary groups have killed
more than 1,000 people in Ireland,
2
mostly Catholics in the north, and many of them
targeted because of their presumed religion, ethnicity, and/or political aspiration.
Many of the communities in questionArdoyne, the Short Strand, Lurganhave
also lost many residents to loyalist terrorists or British security forces, which colluded
with loyalists.
Paramilitary displays allowed by authorities: IPEC and Brehon Law Society observ-
ers have never witnessed any interference with these displays of loyalist paramilita-
1. Federation of American Scientists, Intelligence Resource Program, Red Hand Defenders, http://www.fas.org/irp/
world/para/rhd.htm, accessed January 20, 2007.
2. Malcolm Sutton, An Index of Deaths from the Conflict in Ireland, CAIN website, accessed summer 2002. Data base
shows responsibility for deaths as follows: British Security Forces: 363; Irish Security Forces: 5; Loyalist Paramili-
tary: 1020; not known: 81; Republican Paramilitary: 2054. http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/sutton/tables/
Since 1969, loyalist
paramilitary groups
have killed more
than 1,000 people
in Ireland, mostly
Catholics in the north
4 11 YEARS ON
rism in nationalist communities on the part of the police, the military, or the stewards
of the Orange Order. This lack of intervention occurs despite the body of law explicitly
forbidding paramilitary displays [see below]. This lack of intervention has also been
observed in response to blatant anti-Catholic sectarian displays.
Official response to queries: In meetings over the years with the Royal Ulster
Constabulary/Police Service of Northern Ireland, the Parades Commission, and the
Orange Order, authorities and Orange leaders told observers they were unable to do any-
thing to prevent the involvement of loyalist paramilitaries or their supporters in Orange
marches. Representatives of each institution often pointed their finger at another body
with greater responsibility. Many said they could not intervene for fear of violence from
loyalist paramilitaries. Where a violent loyalist response seems likely, another option
would be for authorities to refuse to allow future parades to those who violate the vari-
ous prohibitions. Year after year our previous reports, as well as that of other observers
including the news media, have documented the presence of paramilitary flags and
emblems in Ardoyne, Springfield Road, and the Short Strand (www.ipecobservers.org)
have documented violations and, though this sanction has rarely been imposed, it has
worked. The Whiterock parade on the Springfield Road is an example of that.
Enabling paramilitarism: By forcing contested loyal order marches through national-
ist, mostly Catholic communities, and allowing the presence of paramilitary displays,
the British government in Northern Ireland enables the parading of loyalist para-
A |oya|ist bonfire is
prepared for Ju|y 12, 2007.
Irish repub|ican f|ags are
attached to it and burned.
militarism through these communities, and bears responsibility for the sectarian abuse
hurled by the parade participants and supporters in their triumphalist marches and for
the polarization in community relations that result.
Legal context: British law governs the conduct of private citizens and government
officials during public processions and the demonstrations that may accompany them.
The display of paramilitary emblems, flags, or other insignia, singing sectarian songs
and provocative sectarian gestures are specifically prohibited.
The Public Processions Act: The Public Processions (Northern Ireland) Act of 1998
established the Parades Commission and empowered it to impose conditions on public
processions. The act also requires loyal orders to file notice of an upcoming parade
with the police 28 days in advance.
3
The Parades Commissions guidelines, code of
conduct, and procedural rules govern the Commission in resolving disputes.
Parades Commission guidelines: The guidelines are based on the fundamental prem-
ise of the right of assembly and freedom of expression. These rights, among many
others, are outlined in the European Convention on Human Rights, the Human Rights
Act of the United Kingdom and the United Nations International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights. While these rights are important, they are not absolute. They are
subject to the limitations set forth in the laws that protect the rights and freedoms of
others or for the prevention of disorder or crime.
Code of conduct: The code of conduct
4
prohibits:
wearing paramilitary style clothing and the display of flags of unlawful organi-
zations (example, UDA);
Drumcree Church,
Portadown, Co. Armagh
3. Dominic Bryan, Orange parades: The politics of ritual, tradition and control (London: Pluto Press, 2000) p 118.
4. Code of Conduct, Northern Ireland Parades Commission.
The code of conduct
prohibits wearing
paramilitary-style
clothing and the
display of flags of
unlawful organizations
6 11 YEARS ON
the display of musical instruments with paramilitary markings and the use of
sectarian words and behavior; and
only hymn tunes are to be played at churches, war memorials and cemeteries,
under the fundamental premise that people have the right of assembly and free-
dom of expression.
Prohibited behavior: The Parades Commissions Code of Conduct explicitly describes
prohibited behavior:
Where the Majority Population of the Vicinity are of a Different Tradition, and
in Interface Areas. Behaviour should be respectful. There should be no exces-
sively loud drumming. Participants should refrain from conduct, words, music
or behavior which could reasonably be perceived as intentionally sectarian,
provocative, threatening, abusive, insulting or lewd.
5
Protest guidelines: The Code of Conduct also addresses protest activities, but defers
to the police by invoking the Public Order (Northern Ireland) Order of 1987 which
imposes conditions on processions, meetings and demonstrations, prohibits stirring up
hatred or arousing fear, forbids riotous or disorderly behavior or breach of the peace in
a public place, as well as threats and abuse at public meetings or public places, carry-
ing an offensive weapon in public, and obstructive conduct at public places. Regarding
5. Appendix B, Northern Ireland Parades Commission.
A Twe|fth Night bonfire,
topped with an Irish trico|or,
is prepared near a Be|fast
interface, Ju|y 2007.
parade protests, the Commission regulations provide that in addition to the Code of
Conduct, the Public Order of 1987 also controls the conduct of protesters.
Public Order (Northern Ireland) Act of 1987: The public order legislation in Northern
Ireland makes it an offense to incite fear, provocation and hatred towards people of
different religious beliefs, color, race, nationality, citizenship and ethnic and national
origins, by the use of words or behavior or through the display of written material in
a public place. Many forms of behavior can constitute sectarian harassment. It can
range from extreme forms such as violence and bullying to less obvious actions. It
includes:
physical harassment: ranging from gestures to serious assault;
verbal harassment: deliberate articulation of sectarian jokes, banter, offensive
language, gossip, sectarian songs, threats; and
visual display of offensive materials: posters, graffiti, flags, bunting, and
emblems.
The public order
legislation in Northern
Ireland makes it an
offense to incite
fear, provocation
and hatred towards
people of different
religious beliefs
8 11 YEARS ON
II. Eyewitness reports from
parades, summer 2007
Portadown, Co. Armagh, July 8, 2007
The annual Drumcree Sunday parade from Portadown to Drumcree Church took
place peacefully and without any disturbances this year. One journalist estimated
fewer than four hundred Orangemen marched and the number of supporters we
observed was perhaps 20.
There were less than ten police vehicles in the area and only two bands accompa-
nied the parade. In conformance with parade rules, only a single drum beat provided
cadence and the marchers were silent as they passed St. Johns Roman Catholic
Chapel. This is a marked difference from the history of this contentious parade, which
includes the police closing down the Roman Catholic chapel on Garvaghy Road so
that Mass could not be said and locking residents in their homes for the better part of
the day of the parade.
Orange supporters
arrive at Drumcree,
Portadown, Ju|y 8, 2007.
Orangemen march toward
Drumcree, Ju|y 8, 2007.
Just ten years ago this parade and its attendant violence produced reactions that con-
vulsed Northern Ireland and garnered worldwide attention. Residents of Garvaghy
Road protested the loyal orders claim that they held an absolute right to march
through nationalist neighborhoods without regard to or conversation with the resi-
dents of those neighborhoods. Residents report that they experienced these parades,
and the lockdown and violence that accompanied them, as a military invasion. A
ring of steel went up around them weeks before the invasion and residents were torn
between anger at being locked into Garvaghy Road for days or weeks and relief that
violent loyalists in the town couldnt get in. It was a linchpin issue in the nascent
peace process.
At the height of the parades contention ten years ago, some fifteen thousand Orangemen
covered Drumcree Hill to protest the denial of access to Garvaghy Road. Since then, the
numbers of parade supporters as well as the attendant violence have diminished.
Short Strand, Belfast, July 12, 2007
BACkgROuNd
The Short Strand is a small Catholic enclave of 3,000 residents surrounded and
besieged by a loyalist/unionist community of 90,000 and located in Protestant East
Belfast. The triangular shaped area, comprising less than a square mile, is almost com-
pletely surrounded by the peace wall (a heavily fortified 12-foot security fence) and
a police station (now largely unused) sits squarely in the middle.
This small community of 800 homes on 14 streets has been plagued by violent sec-
tarian attacks for more than 40 years. The historically tense relationship between
their community and the neighboring loyalist/unionist communities deteriorated in
2001 and 2002 because of increasing sectarian violence. By June 2002 almost every
house along the inside of the perimeter of the Short Strand had its windows and roofs
Orangemen pass by St.
Johns Catho|ic Church
en route to Drumcree,
Ju|y 8, 2007.
10 11 YEARS ON
shattered and burnt because of explosives and other missiles fired in from loyalists.
Residents argument that the Northern Ireland Office should pay for repairs as the
police and fire departments refused to protect the community fell on deaf ears. The fact
that the fire brigade refused to fight fires and the police refused to treat the destruction
of homes in the Short Strand as crime scenes created greater apprehension and fear
within all nationalist communities and generated further distrust of the government
and its institutions.
IPEC and Brehon Law Society observers were present in the Short Strand in July, 2007.
Pitt Park, opposite Short Strand: Belfast City Council has sponsored events com-
memorating the Battle of the Somme (July 1) and the Battle of the Boyne (July 12)
at Pitt Park, a loyalist park which is located directly across Newtownards Road from
St. Matthews Roman Catholic Chapel in the nationalist Short Strand. In recent years,
the bonfire has reached fifty feet in height and
has generated so much heat that windows in the
adjoining loyalist estate were damaged as was
the metal fence surrounding the bonfire area.
Plywood window guards had to be installed
over the windows of adjacent loyalist homes and
metal sheeting has been placed at the fence so as
to prevent further damage.
Po|ice observe |oya|ist
bonfire at Pitt Park Ju|y
11, 2007, across from
St. Matthews Catho|ic
Church. No |oya|ist gunmen
appeared, as they did in
2006. For the first time
in decades, no British
troops were present.
In past years, music was played at the highest possible volume around the clock for
days on end. One journalist reported that he visited the booth from which the music
was emanating at full blast at 3:00 am only to find the area totally vacant and the CD
player set on repeat.
This harassment by music has subsided in volume and duration. This year music
played only during the actual events in the Park, on 11th Night.
No masked gunman at 11th night event, as was the case in 2006: In 2006, masked
Ulster Volunteer Force gunmen appeared on a stage at the 11th night event in Pitt Park
and fired off rounds into the air from automatic weapons. Inasmuch as the festivities
were funded in part by Belfast City Council, these events generated protest from many
quarters. In 2007 the paramilitaries agreed that there would be no repetition of these
acts and there was, in fact, a clear effort to subdue the violent activities associated with
the proceedings in Pitt Park. In addition, no flags or emblems of illegal paramilitary
groups were seen. Rather, the area was adorned with Union Jacks printed with the face
of the Queen and red, white and blue bunting, as well as with the Ulster flag, another
symbol of Protestant supremacy. There was a fireworks display at 10:00 pm. The bon-
fire, lit at midnight, was smaller this year and, for the first time, appeared to conform
to the rules which prohibit tires in the bonfires. This both shortened the length of time
the bonfire burned as well as the amount of pollutant expelled into the air. There were,
however, violations of the anti-sectarian rules. Observers witnessed the burning of at
least five flags, four Ploughs and Stars and one Irish tri-color, both symbols of Irish
independence/republican movements.
Absence of British army: In prior years, there was a heavy British army presence on
the fringes of St. Matthews Roman Catholic Chapel. Huge, moveable heavy metal
walls were inserted on the fence surrounding the church grounds, separating the two
communities and protecting the Short Strand.
This year, in a further sign of decreasing tensions, the army was absent and the police
alone took up positions at the intersection of Newtownards Road and Bryson Street.
No barriers were erected and only a few police vehicles blocked the intersection.
In previous years, the 11th night festivities, including shatteringly loud music and
petrol bomb throwing, went on into the early morning hours. This year, by agree-
ment engineered by Mervyn Gibson, a local resident and a chaplain of the Orange
Order, the festivities concluded at 12:45 am early the day of July 12th. The police
presence significantly diminished at that time and the music ceased. Much of the
credit for this quieter atmosphere must go to those who reached out, made and
enforced this better plan.
masked paramilitaries: Unfortunately, it was widely reported that masked UVF para-
militaries staged a show of strength during the evenings events by grabbing a micro-
12 11 YEARS ON
ALBERTBRIdgE ROAd, mORNINg PARAdE
Observers took up positions at approximately 8:00 am on the north side of Albertbridge
Road. Approximately seven residents of the Short Strand served as stewards. One of the
houses within the Short Strand had been attacked and a window broken by a large rock the
previous evening. This was a sectarian attack and a reminder of others in the recent past.
At 8:45 am, three police vehicles proceeded west on Albertbridge Road and then made a
U-turn and took up positions on the north side of the street, nearest the Short Strand.
At 8:55 am, ten police officers moved to the center divider and, significantly, faced
toward the south or unionist side of the street where only two men were observed in a
bus shelter with two others standing by watching the situation.
Homes a|ong the
A|bertbridge Road in East
Be|fast were attacked
in the ear|y morning
hours Ju|y 12, 2007.
phone and announcing to the crowd that they were volunteers from the UVF, which
they also described as the peoples party.
Whether or not the masked men were in fact UVF volunteers or their actions sanc-
tioned by the UVF, which has now officially stood down, is unknown.
At approximately 9:00 am, the parade came by with the Pride of Govan Flute Band
accompanying the Ravenhill Road Volunteers Lodge. The flute band carried one UVF
flag, a violation of the law, the rules and the Parades Commission Determination.
A member of the lodge left the parade proper and walked on the sidewalk behind Short
Strand residents. A complaint was made to the PSNI ranking officer in attendance
in the belief that the individual in question was in breach of a Parades Commission
Determination. The police officer advised the Short Strand residents that he believed
the man was a steward only doing his job.
Overall, the parade was uneventful. In contrast to other years, there appeared to be no
drinking, triumphalist bullying or provocative gestures made.
mOuNTPOTTINgER ROAd, mORNINg PARAdE
For what observers believe is the first time, supporters of the outbound parade were
permitted to walk on the sidewalk on the south side of Mountpottinger Road adjacent
to Strand Walk.
Ravenhi|| Road Vo|unteers,
A|bertbridge Road, Short
Strand, Ju|y 12, 2007.
14 11 YEARS ON
Despite the statements of the police that open alcohol containers would be confiscated,
young men passed by the intersection with Short Strand with obviously open beer con-
tainers. One young man, in fact, went by carrying a case of Carling beer while others
had plastic cups of beer.
The police told observers that due to the size of the parade, the close proximity to the
nationalist neighborhood, and the general mood, it would be impossible for them to
enforce the alcohol ordinances being violated.
Prohibited loyalist paramilitary flags displayed: Many of the bands carried UVF and
UDA flags, which are clearly prohibited. There was an increase in the amount of alco-
hol being carried by supporters from prior years.
Stewards: Throughout the parade, a group of men was seen on the north side of
Newtownards Road. Observers were told that one of them was a leading UVF man and
that he and his group were acting as stewards though they wore no identifying garb.
However, observers were told that during the return march in the evening, identifying
garments would be worn. This was recognition of the heightened tension that gener-
ally accompanies the evening parade.
NEwTOwNARdS ROAd, EvENINg PARAdE
The return parade in the evening was much more disruptive and unruly than the
Marchers wearing mi|itary-
sty|e uniforms, Short Strand,
Be|fast, Ju|y 12, 2007. Such
uniforms vio|ate Parades
Commission guide|ines.
morning parade and many of the returnees were highly intoxicated and angry. Many
attempted to cross the street towards the Short Strand residents but were restrained by
the loyalist stewards.
There were myriad breaches of the Parades Commission determinations. The flags of
illegal loyalist paramilitary organizations were carried by many of the bands. These
included flags of the Ulster Volunteer Force, Young Citizen Volunteers (the UVFs
youth wing), the Ulster Freedom Fighters and the Ulster Defence Association. All
of these groups are illegal and responsible for the murders of many Catholics and
nationalists, including Short Strand residents. These displays are deeply offensive and
degrade community confidence that the police, or the government as a whole, operate
in their interest.
Many bands, including the Pride of Govan Flute Band of Glasgow, played their drums
in an extremely loud and obnoxious manner. Bands played prohibited tunes and songs,
including The Sash My Father Wore, Derrys Walls, No Pope in Rome and
Billys Boys, all of which have been specifically prohibited as particularly anti-
Catholic and loathsome.
Parade supporters sang Billys Boys as they passed by the Short Strand residents.
This song contains the lyrics We are the Billy Boys, We are up to our necks in Fenian
blood, Surrender or youll die, for we are the Billy Boys.
Loya|ist steward frowns as
observers photograph i||ega|
U|ster Vo|unteer Force f|ags.
16 11 YEARS ON
Members of the Crown Defenders Flute Band sang the following lyrics to No Pope
in Rome: Your chapels are a slight in my eye, No nuns and no priests, No rosary
beads, sure every day is the 12th of July.
A group called the Rising Sons of East Belfast marched in the evening parade wearing
black colored paramilitary uniforms similar in style to those worn by the B Specials, a
Protestant paramilitary police force that attacked Catholic civil rights demonstrators in
the 1960s and was disbanded due to its excesses. These uniforms contained an emblem
depicting a red hand and an outstretched wing which it is believed is representative of
the Red Hand Commando, an outlawed loyalist terrorist organization.
Whitewe|| Defenders, a
band connected to the
i||ega| U|ster Defence
Association, disp|ays a UDA
f|ag. This disp|ay vio|ates
|aws and ru|es of parading
because the UDA is an
i||ega| parami|itary army.
Residents also reported to observers that a group known as the Monkstown YCV
was seen carrying both UVF and YCV flags and a bannerette with the inscription
Monkstown YCV, Established 1974. This makes reference to the youth wing of the
proscribed UVF, and not to the flute band.
As in the past, marchers played prohibited songs when passing in front of the Roman
Catholic St. Matthews Chapel where only hymns or a single drum beat were allowed.
These violations were even more egregious because Roman Catholic services were
being conducted at the time of these transgressions. These violations of the laws and
rules of parading and the Parades Commission Determinations have been noted each
and every year but continue year after year. Police fail and refuse to enforce the rules
and stop the activities as they occur on the streets and on those rare occasions when
the Commission makes a determination against a particular band or practice, that rule
is not enforced.
The fact that an Orange parade is continuously allowed into the same Catholic neigh-
borhood, despite the uncontested evidence of breach and failure of enforcement of the
rules speaks to the deeply undemocratic nature of the state.
Regrettably, neither the police nor the Parades Commission are inclined to take correc-
tive measures regarding the blatant violations of the determinations, or the laws and
rules of parading, particularly on its return in the evening.
An abandoned po|ice
station in the Short Strand
bears anti-po|ice graffiti.
A Short Strand resident
protests an Orange parade
past his community,
Ju|y 12, 2007.
18 11 YEARS ON
Despite an overall decrease of tension in other areas during the 12th of July, sectar-
ian behavior remains the rule when the Orange parade passes by the Short Strand/St.
Matthews Chapel area.
Newtonards Road, August 25, 2007: violations of Parades Commission
The Parades Commission determined that no music other than a single drum beat played
on a side drum should be played August 25, 2007 between the Loyalist Memorial
Garden on Newtownards Road and the junction of the Bridge End Flyover.
Members of the Short Strand Residents Group reported to the Parades Commission
that virtually every band in the parade breached this rule. Residents identified the Blue
Ribbon Accordion Band, the Parkinson Accordion Band, the Albertbridge Accordion
Band, the Pride of the Raven Band, the Lower Woodstock Flute Band and the Blues
and Royals Flute Band all played their musical instruments, including side drums,
bass drums, flutes and accordions, loudly while marching through the area. Residents
reported the bands played No Pope in Rome, The Green Grassy Slopes of the
Boyne, Derrys Walls and The Sash, all tunes specifically prohibited as particu-
above |eft. The North Down
Defenders disp|ay a UDA
f|ag. This vio|ates parades
regu|ations and offends
the nationa|ist/Catho|ic
residents of the community
the parade passes through.
above right. An U|ster
Vo|unteer Force f|ag is
disp|ayed in vio|ation of
Parades commission ru|es.
Such incitefu| behavior
is routine at contested
parades. I||ega| disp|ays
of |oya|ist f|ags and
emb|ems are widespread.
above center. A|coho| is
wide|y consumed, a|so in
vio|ation of regu|ations.
larly anti-Catholic and loathsome. Residents reported
that the marchers got off buses and then marched the
approximate two thousand feet past the Short Strand
and St. Matthews Roman Catholic Chapel.
These allegations raise serious questions regarding the
purpose and intent of this parade. No rational purpose,
other than provoking nationalists, can be supported.
right. Despite a proscription
of drinking at marches.
These parade participants
drink beer as they pass by
the Catho|ic Short Strand
area, Ju|y 12, 2007.
be|ow. The North Down
Defenders, a UDA band,
wears mi|itary-sty|e uniforms.
This vio|ates the |aw as
we|| as ru|es of marching.
20 11 YEARS ON
Springfield Road, Belfast, July 12, 2007
The morning parade began at 9:29 am and ended at 9:39. There were 175 - 200
nationalist protesters along both sides of the Springfield Road from Isadore Ave.
to Workmans Gate. This was the first time the Parades Commission allowed the
Springfield Road Protesters to line the parade route. In past years the Springfield
Road nationalist residents engaged in the protest were confined to an area quite a dis-
tance from the parade route. They held up placards with messages, including:
Loyalist violence works
Poole dances to Orange tune
You are now passing Nationalist homes. Show respect.
Nationalists also held a 30-foot banner stating End Sectarianism Violence and a 10-
foot banner saying Parades Commission Maintains Orange Domination.
There were about ten loyalist Anti-Protest protesters on the roundabout of Springfield
Road and Mackies Gate, holding placards with various messages, including:
Equal access and shared space for all
Stop the death threats against Protestant residents
Respect our community; respect our culture
We demand equal access; this is our road also
Nationa|ists protest Orange
parade on Springfie|d Road,
Be|fast, Ju|y 12, 2007.
Nationalist residents complained that while nationalists have always been forced
to stage their signs of protest so that it was unlikely or impossible for the loyalist/
unionists to see it, their Protestant neighbors were allowed to counter protest in full
view. This differential in the expression of the right to speak about Orange marches
is seen as unfair.
Orange Order supporters
stage a counterprotest.
Springfie|d Road,
Ju|y 12, 2007.
E|eventh night |oya|ist
bonfire, seen from the
nationa|ist side of the
peace|ine, West Be|fast.
22 11 YEARS ON
A helicopter hovered overhead during the parade and there were six land rovers near
the intersection of Clovelly St. and Springfield Road, and approximately six land rov-
ers in the Mackies Gate entrance.
There were approximately forty nationalist stewards wearing BRN (Belfast
Reconciliation Networks) vests.
The Whiterock Temperance LOL 974 led the parade. A small black cloth cross hung
from the middle top of the lodges banner.
As set forth in the Parades Commission, the bands played only a single drumbeat.
The march as well as the protests were quiet and orderly. There was no exchange of
hostilities between marchers and protesters.
Ormeau Road, July 12, 2007 evening parade
A group of about twenty nationalist stewards attended the Ormeau Road parade the eve-
ning of July 12, 2007. These stewards work with the Belfast Reconciliation Network,
and were stationed at the green near the Ormeau Bridge. A group of perhaps twenty to
thirty young people were also present, some carrying beer bottles.
Nationalist leaders were present and spoke with the police inspector in charge of the
area. Alex Maskey, MLA, was also in attendance. At 6:45 pm a number of PSNI vehicles
proceeded down Stranmillis Embankment and turned into one of the side streets out of
sight from the residents. At approximately 7:20 pm there was a flurry of activity and a
police vehicle containing police officers clad in riot gear parked on the southwest corner.
At 7:35 pm, police erected traffic barriers across the intersection and nationalist stewards
moved young people away from the fence at the sidewalk to a distance of some forty to
fifty feet. At 7:40 pm the parade came into view. The crowd on the green had grown to
Be|fasts Ormeau Road is
b|ocked to accommodate
the Ju|y 12,2007 evening
Orange parade.
approximately fifty people and was composed more of residents than stewards, most of
whom were facing the parade and not the people on the green.
drunken loyalist steward provokes nationalist residents: As the marchers turned the
corner and came close to the nationalist residents, a loyalist steward positioned himself
on the walkway, no more than ten or fifteen feet from the local nationalist residents.
It was apparent that this loyalist steward was highly intoxicated. One of the march-
ers with the Strandmillis Temperance Volunteers, carrying a sword over his shoulder,
staggered as he went by and made provocative gestures to the nationalist crowd. The
members of one particular band, with the Union Jack painted on their faces, went by
making provocative gestures. A loyalist steward was heard to yell at them, Keep
marching, keep marching, while other loyalist stewards kept the parade supporters
on the far sidewalk across the street.
This unionist steward at
the Ju|y 12th, 2007 Ormeau
Road parade was drunk on
the [ob and tried to engage
with Catho|ic residents
across po|ice |ines.
Orangemen cross the
Ormeau Road bridge,
Ju|y 12, 2007.
24 11 YEARS ON
Astonishingly, observers were advised that the steward who was drunk and acting provoc-
atively was a member of the Orange Order who liaised with the police regarding the new
policy of confiscating alcohol in order to quiet the provocation each year at this event.
Virtually every band played The Sash as they turned the corner, usually in an
extremely loud and provocative manner.
Nevertheless, most people involved felt that, compared to 2006, the 2007 Ormeau
Road parade passed off in relative quiet.
Nationalist stewards and leaders played a significant role in maintaining calm. The
police kept a low profile and ushered the marchers along. Loyalist paramilitary leaders
publicly called for a tranquil event and for a ban on alcohol. All of the above contrib-
uted to a day of marked improvement over prior years.
The provocative behavior of the intoxicated loyalist steward was extreme. The police
failed to move him away from his position near nationalist residents, permitting him
Nationa|ist residents
gather at Ormeau
bridge, Ju|y 12, 2007.
to come close to inciting serious public disorder. By moving him some twenty or thirty
feet further along the bridge, the entire situation could have been immediately defused.
It was not.
Incendiary gestures by some band members were also gratuitous. If the rules are
enforced, tensions can be significantly reduced.
above. A band member
(center} gives nationa|ist
residents the finger as
he marches through the
Catho|ic neighborhood
right. A band carries
out|awed U|ster Vo|unteer
Force f|ags through the
nationa|ist Ormeau Road
neighborhood, Ju|y 12, 2007.
26 11 YEARS ON
As suggested in prior reports, one way to totally remove this yearly confronta-
tion from the scene would be to reroute the parade from the Stranmillis to the
Annandale Embankment (on the Ballynafaigh side of the Ormeau Bridge), thus
eliminating the flashpoint.
Ardoyne, North Belfast
hISTORICAL CONTExT Of JuLy 12Th ORANgE
ORdER PARAdES IN ARdOyNE
The annual July 12 Orange Order parades on the Crumlin Road pass through one of
the most volatile interfaces in Belfast. IPEC and Brehon Law Society observers were
present during the contested parades on July 12, 2007 in the nationalist communities
of Ardoyne and Mountainview in North Belfast.
The parade route runs from the loyalist Glenbryn and Ballysillan areas to the loyal-
ist Shankill Road district in the morning. It passes the Ardoyne shops, an ambulance
center, and the Roman Catholic Chapel, and splits the nationalist communities of
Ardoyne and Mountainview. The return parade, in the evening, follows the same route
in reverse. Annual loyal order parades through this interface have generated tremen-
dous contention and significant violence and disorder in recent years, particularly at
the evening parade in which many participants and supporters are clearly drunk. No
alternative route has yet been identified.
North Belfast has been the scene of bitter sectarian violence for decades. Ninety-
nine Ardoyne residents were killed during the modern period of conflict starting
in 1969, and many residents were interned and arrested. Army and police raids
and loyalist attacks were frequent. The area became the focus of international
attention in 2001 when loyalists picketed parents and children going to the Holy
Cross Catholic primary school. Residents of the Ardoyne and Mountainview
neighborhoods believe the Policing Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) failed
and refused to protect the children and their families during that extended pro-
test. The aggressive loyalist protest, which included shouting threats and insults,
and throwing bottles of urine and blast bombs at children between the ages of 4
and 9, left residents of Ardoyne and Mountainview with deep anger both at their
neighbors and the PSNI.
Police Ombudsman Nuala OLoans bombshell report of systemic collusion between
police and loyalists in 15 murders from 1991 to 2003 is particularly significant for
Ardoyne, as OLoan concentrated solely on one relatively small patch of Belfast,
the area in which Ardoyne is located.
6
Whether police-loyalist collusion was worse
in North Belfast or was systemic throughout Northern Ireland, this documentation of
6. Owen Bowcott, 15 murders linked to police collusion with loyalists; Special Branch protected paramilitaries, Om-
budsman finds; Calls for public inquiry over role of senior RUC officers, The Guardian,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,1996611,00.html. Accessed January 22, 2007.
police-loyalist collusion demonstrates the depth of the strains between the police and
nationalist/Catholic residents.
IPEC and Brehon Law Society observers have documented Orange Order July 12th
parades through this North Belfast interface since 2001. We have identified central
issues that characterize the contested parades, including the policing decisions deal-
ing with the possibility of violence, the attempts by both neighboring communities
to establish dominance over the public space, and the response to positions taken by
the Parades Commission, the statutory body responsible for making decisions about
parade routes and participation.
Orange marches have a particular meaning for Ardoynes Catholic residents.
Many of the local families moved to Ardoyne in the 1930s, when hundreds of
refugees from neighborhoods closer to the center of Belfast fled in the wake of
anti-Catholic rioting, which was ignited by Orange parades.
7
When the Troubles
erupted in 1969, residents said police joined in loyalist attacks on nationalist resi-
dents. At least one resident, Sammy McLarnon, was killed in a police attack in his
home in August, 1969.
8
Please refer to previous IPEC/Brehon reports for descriptions of contested parades
from 2001 to 2006 (www.ipecobservers.org). Nationalist and unionist community
leaders have worked hard in recent years to reduce tensions along interface areas in
North Belfast. While the 2007 July 12th parades through Ardoyne were relatively
quiet, displays of outlawed loyalist flags and emblems by loyalist paramilitary bands
continued to be a problem (see photos, next two pages).
In the evening march through Ardoyne, the Drumchapel Orange and Purple band from
Glasgow walked with a clearly visible UDA banner surrounded by Orange stewards
and members of the Ballysillan LOL 1891. Previously, Drumchapel has been docu-
mented by IPEC and Brehon observers carrying bannerettes or instruments bearing
UDA symbols in 2002, 2003, and 2004. The Pride of Ardoyne flute band marched
carrying a bannerette with UVF insignia memorializing Sam Rocket, who was pur-
portedly killed by loyalists, and William Hanna, who was shot by members of the
British Army. In prior years, Pride of Ardoyne has carried UVF banners in marches
documented by observers in 2001 and 2002 on the Springfield Road and through
Ardoyne in 2003 and 2004.
7. Belfast, Northern Ireland, July 22 [1935], The Catholic-Protestant fights that began with the Orangemens Day
celebration of July 12 definitely became a religious battle today as it spread southward into the Irish Free State,
Washington Post, July 23, 1935.
8. Ardoyne Commemoration Project, Ardoyne: The Untold Truth, Belfast: Beyond the Pale Publications, 2002, pp. 24-25.
28 11 YEARS ON
This page and opposite.
Orangemen parade through
Ardoyne, North Be|fast,
Ju|y 12, 2007 amidst bands
promoting the out|awed
U|ster Defence Association
and U|ster Vo|unteer Force.
30 11 YEARS ON
III. Continuing sectarianism
While we have seen a general reduction of tensions surrounding the 12th of July over
these years, we continued to see and document disturbing sectarian conduct in 2007.
For example, 11th night bonfires traditionally include burning effigies republicans,
nationalist politicians, and the Pope.
In July 2006, an Irish tri-color with the words Fuck Mickey Bo was placed atop
a bonfire in Ballymena. Mickey Bo was the nickname for Michael McIlveen, a
young Catholic boy who was kicked to death by a loyalist mob a short time earlier.
The burning of the flag, despite numerous protests and pleas not to do so, was widely
condemned.
In 2007, the memory of two recently deceased Catholic youth was defiled by loyal-
ists at the 11th night bonfire. Approximately two weeks before the 12th of July, 2007,
16-year-old Aaron Neil, a resident of County Derry, died of heart disease. Less than a
year earlier, another young Catholic, Paddy Brennan, also died.
Shortly before the 12th of July, 2007, Peter Neil, Aarons father, noticed a banner bear-
ing his sons name, as well as Paddy Brennans, erected on a bonfire in Coleraine.
It was widely reported that the PSNI, despite complaints by Mr. Neil, refused to
remove the banner so Mr. Neil did so himself. Within hours, unionist paramilitaries
threatened the Neil home and the PSNI thereafter warned Mr. Neil that he was about
to be attacked. The media reported that a crowd of loyalist paramilitaries armed with
sledgehammers and ladders approached the Neil family home but were held back by
the PSNI. No arrests were made in this sorry episode.
Bookie shop murderer Joseph Bratty celebrated in Orange banner: On February 15,
1992, Joseph Bratty organized an attack on the Sean Graham bookmakers shop on
the Lower Ormeau Road, South Belfast. Bratty was a member of the Ulster Defence
Association. He and other UDA gunmen entered the bookmakers establishment and
killed five innocent people, including a pensioner (a senior) and a teenager, by spray-
ing the shop with 44 rounds from AK-47s.
In 2006, a banner honoring Joseph Bratty was carried in the July 12th parade
at Ormeau Bridge and was reported in last years IPEC/Brehon report, Make
Sectarianism History.
In 2007, a similar banner honoring Joseph Bratty was displayed during an Orange march
in Belfast City Center, despite widespread protests condemning the display of the ban-
ner in 2006. An Orange Order spokesperson claimed the presence of the banner was
We continued to
see and document
disturbing sectarian
conduct in 2007
unknown to, nor was it condoned by, the Orange Order. The promised investigation begs
the question of why the banner was not put aside at the start of the parade. Neither PSNI
or the Orange Order took any action or any responsibility for the failure to act.
Attacks on Orange halls: The Lavin Orange Hall near Armoy was destroyed by arson-
ists on July 12th, 2006. While Drew Nelson, the Grand Secretary of the Orange Order,
alleges that there were at least 50 attacks on Orange halls in the first two weeks of
July, other accounts indicated that only fourteen halls had been attacked, with varying
degrees of damage. Reports that members of the lodges slept in the halls in order to
protect them supports the lower number.
All attacks were condemned by Sinn Fein. MP Conor Murphy stated that the attacks
are wrong and should stop. The attacks were also condemned by the nationalist-
leaning Irish News, which characterized the attacks as disgraceful and called for the
perpetrators to be brought to justice.
The Irish News concluded in an editorial There can be no justification for the intimi-
dation of Orangemen and the destruction of their property, and the violence carried out
by a handful of extremists must be brought to an end.
Stolen banner returned: It was also reported in the press that an Apprentice Boys
bannerette stolen from a vandalized Orange Hall on July 12th was recovered from
dissident republicans in Antrim. The hall itself, which is located in Rasharkin, was
covered in slogans glorifying the Continuity IRA, a dissident group. When Sinn Fein
figures in Belfast were advised of the missing bannerette, a call was made to return it.
Within hours it was returned to the Orangemen.
Despite this conciliatory act of nationalists, a parade in Rasharkin a short time later,
included several bands that are openly connected with both the UDA and the UVF. The
Rasharkin parade included some forty loyalist bands and as many as 1,000 support-
ers. Many Catholic families had to vacate their homes for the evening in fear of being
attacked. Others locked themselves into their homes, fearful of attack should they go
out into their neighborhood.
Other sectarian attacks in 2007: It was also reported in early September that the
Seagoe Orange Hall in Portadown was the target of an arson attack resulting in the
destruction of windows, furniture and a banner. Our Lady Star of the Sea Roman
Catholic Church in Kircubbin, County Down, was fire bombed.
This resulted in a motion, supported by Sinn Fein, passed unanimously in the assem-
bly condemning such attacks.
Sinn Fein President, Gerry Adams, said, These attacks are wrong, they should stop,
the perpetrators should be made available to the PSNI and subject to due process.
Sinn Fein President
Gerry Adams said,
These attacks are
wrong, they should
stop, the perpetrators
should be made
available to the
PSNI and subject
to due process.
32 11 YEARS ON
Former First Minister Ian Paisley praised Mr. Adams statement as well as Sinn Feins
condemnation of these acts. Other unionist and Orange leaders also praised Adams
statement.
glen Branagh memorial
On November 11, 2001, a 16-year-old Protestant boy named Glen Branagh from
Tigers Bay, an intensely loyalist area, died after rioting took place at the Limestone
Road area. His death was caused by injuries sustained when a pipe bomb he was
throwing at nationalists exploded prematurely in his hand. Loyalists insisted that the
pipe bomb had been thrown by nationalists and that young Branagh was in the process
of throwing it back. However, the RUC / PSNI determined that the device had not
come from the nationalist side. Branagh was a member of the Ulster Young Militants,
the youth wing of the UDA, and was wearing a mask at the time of the event.
A memorial was erected in the area, apparently consisting of only a small plaque
with no sectarian trappings. Over the July 12th, 2007 period, the memorial was paint-
bombed with bright orange paint, evoking wide condemnation.
A welcome decline in the frequency of sectarian attacks: Sectarianism and sectar-
ian attacks continue in the north of Ireland. Nevertheless, the number of attacks has
decreased. They appear to be the work of extremists on both sides of the divide and
that there is diminished support from the mainstream of each of their communities. We
are hopeful that these attacks will diminish and cease.
There are promising signs that point to an overall awareness that for the peace process
to continue and to grow, there must be bona fide efforts by all segments of society
to put an end to sectarian acts. For the first time, leaders of the Orange Order in
Portadown, the scene of some of the most contentious confrontations over parading,
signaled a willingness to engage with representatives of the nationalist community in
a mediation setting.
Also for the first time, the Orange Order publicly recognized the connection between
alcohol and many of the disturbances during and after parades. The Orange Order con-
demned the irresponsible use of alcohol, which, it was claimed, discouraged families
from participating in these cultural events.
We have been advised that loyalist paramilitary groups likewise condemned alcohol
abuse surrounding the 12th. Additionally, they insisted upon restraint and good behav-
ior from people in their communities.
Republicans provided stewards, as they have for a number of years, in potentially
explosive situations, including the Springfield Road, Ardoyne, the Ormeau Road, the
Short Strand and elsewhere.
The police also presented a face far different from the one seen not too many years
ago. Fewer police and attack dogs, less riot gear and, for the second year in a row, no
appearances by the British Army.
Media reports suggest that speeches by Orangemen on the 12th were devoid of anti-
Catholic rhetoric.
A further sign of cooperation and an act draped in dramatic symbolism was the appear-
ance of Gerry Adams in loyalist East Belfast at the 2007 funeral of David Ervine, the
leader of the UVF-aligned Progressive Unionist Party. He publicly comforted Mrs.
Ervine and mingled with other mourners, many former foes. This spoke volumes of
the sea changes that have occurred.
The desire for peace is strong and is promoted by both communities, with some
unhappy exceptions.
34 11 YEARS ON
Iv. what marching means:
differing perspectives
Unionists and nationalists have diametrically opposed perspectives on the historical
and contemporary meaning of Orange and other loyal order marches. Over the past
decade, IPEC and Brehon Law Society observers have frequently met with leaders of
the Orange Order and unionist and loyalist political parties, as well as with national-
ist residents groups and their elected representatives. We have noted widely differing
perspectives on the Orange Order and its significance. Our particular concerns are
those Orange marches that are forced through or by nationalist neighborhoods, often
with bands and supporters promoting loyalist paramilitary groups.
ThE uNIONIST PERSPECTIvE
Unionists, many of them Orangemen, portray the Orange Order as a harmless fraternal
order that represents an expression of their patriotism and loyalty to the Queen, and
their commitment to the Protestant Reformation and the religious and civil liberties
that King William of Orange brought to Protestants in Britain and Ireland. Orange and
unionist leaders portray loyal order marches through Catholic areas as manifestations
of Protestant culture. They insist that they have an absolute right to parade through
and past nationalist and largely Catholic communities without their consent and that
this is necessary to ensure that their culture, traditions and rituals must be respected in
this way. The idea that this right is absolute supports the loyal orders refusal to speak
with nationalist residents as well as the Parades Commission.
Some unionist leaders portray Orange parades as being non-contentious prior to 1995, when
agitators promoted dissension as part of a nationalist/republican strategy. One unionist
political leader we met with harkened back to an idyllic past, when Catholics would watch
the livestock of Protestants on July 12th so that they could attend Orange celebrations. Others
told us that, prior to the Troubles, Catholics attended Orange celebrations, including parades
and bonfires. One unionist politician told us that republicans were trying to stifle his culture
and religion. Another portrayed community opposition to parades as a Sinn Fin strategy,
and both the media and unionist politicians often portray nationalist community residents as
being manipulated and intimidated into opposing parades by Sinn Fin leaders.
Orangemen refuse to talk with nationalist resident group leaders because they are Sinn
Fin party members, as the voters in Ardoyne, Short Strand, Maghera and elsewhere
vote overwhelmingly for Sinn Fin. Orangemen and unionists often refer to Sinn Fin
elected officials as Sinn Fin/IRA, in an effort to justify their refusal to talk with
democratically elected community leaders. Other Orange supporters turn discrimina-
tion upside down and insist that unionists and Protestants are the victims of reverse
discrimination by nationalists and Catholics.
Unionists, many of
them Orangemen,
portray the Orange
Order as a harmless
fraternal order
that represents an
expression of their
patriotism and loyalty
to the Queen
In 2007 the Orange Order displayed greater openness to meeting with Catholics and
nationalists. Orangemen met with the Social Democratic and Labor Party (the sec-
ond largest nationalist political party in the north), Dublin government officials, and
Catholic Church leaders. We welcome these developments. While these meetings
reflect a growing acknowledgement by Orangemen that they have to explain their
role and policies to those they traditionally regarded as opponents
9
the Orange Order
continues to refuse to engage in dialogue with residents of the affected communities
or the Parades Commission.
ThE NATIONALIST PERSPECTIvE
Nationalists view Orange marches through and past Catholic neighborhoods as mili-
tary invasions as well as provocative expressions of political, economic and social
domination by the unionist majority in the six counties of Northern Ireland over the
nationalist minority.
The Orange Order emerged in the 1790s to ensure Protestant/British minority rule in
Ireland, in sharp contrast to the 1798 uprising against British rule which was led by
many upper class Protestant, Irish-identified republicans.
Throughout the 1800s and 1900s, Orange marches that were forced through Catholic
ghettos often involved attacks on the residents of those ghettos by marchers and forces
of the state. So many Catholics were killed that the British government sought repeat-
edly, from the 1820s through the 1870s, to ban Orange marches throughout Ireland.
10

Following especially bad rioting in Belfast sparked by the July 12th marches which
lasted into September, a royal commission appointed to investigate the causes of the
riots reported:
The Orange system seems to us now to have no other practical result than as a
means of keeping up the Orange festivals and celebrating them; leading as they
do, to violence, outrage, religious animosities, hatred between the classes and
too often bloodshed and loss of life.
11

In the late 19th and early 20th century the Orange Order strongly opposed Home Rule,
which would have allowed Ireland some autonomy and self-government while remain-
ing part of Great Britain. Orange leaders fought Home Rule, which they denounced as
Rome Rule, because it would have meant that Irelands 80 percent Catholic majority
would control many aspects of local government in Ireland. From the founding of the
Northern Ireland parliament in 1921 to its suspension in 1972, the Orange Order was
closely linked with the Protestant-controlled state, its police and its paramilitary police
The Orange Order
emerged in the 1790s
to ensure Protestant/
British minority
rule in Ireland
9. New priorities as Orangemen move on, Belfast Telegraph, December 15, 2006, http://www.belfast telegraph.
co.uk/news/opinion/article2076990.ece?service=print. Accessed December 18, 2006.
10. Bryan, 2000, 35-43.
11. 1857 royal commission, cited in Two hundred years in the Orange citadel: A nationalist perspective. (No date, no
publication information, such as where published or author.) However, it appears that this document was written by
the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition and was published in late 1996 or 1997.
36 11 YEARS ON
forces. A significant overlap between Orangism and right-wing, rejectionist unionism
continues to the present day.
Nationalist residents sorely resent the presence of loyalist paramilitary leaders, as are
the bands prohibitedand unpunisheddisplay of flags and banners celebrating the
Ulster Defence Association, the Ulster Volunteer Force, Red Hand Commando and
other outlawed loyalist paramilitary groups. Members of these organizations have
murdered and maimed many residents of nationalist communities, burnt or otherwise
destroyed their homes, as well as harassed, menaced and intimidated so many and to
such an extent that nationalist communities are effectively cut off from the life of the
larger community and the state.
This speaks to the nationalist concern that unwanted Orange parades have tradition-
ally been forced through or past nationalist/Catholic communities by massive deploy-
ments of hundreds of police and British soldiers in riot gear, in some cases for weeks
at a time. The British soldiers are under the control of the Police Service of Northern
Ireland (PSNI). The PSNI is the successor to the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC),
which when founded in 1920 was itself the successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary
Nationa|ists stand in front
of graffiti opposing the
forcing of Orange parades
through Catho|ic areas.
(RIC), set up by British Prime Minister Robert Peel in 1822 (although not called the
RIC until 1867).
12
The RIC was established to maintain British and Protestant minor-
ity rule in Ireland, and enforced oppressive laws that resulted in widespread chronic
hunger, mass evictions, the transportation of Irish prisoners overseas, and the depopu-
lation of Ireland in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Nationalists and Catholics experienced the RUC as a British, Protestant militia biased
against Catholics and in support of Protestant/British/Orange hegemony in the north.
The RUC was central to the installation of a highly repressive, sectarian and central-
ized regime in Northern Ireland from 1920-1972.
13
Security force collusion with
loyalists during the 1974 Ulster workers strike helped collapse the Protestant-Catholic
powersharing government. Recent revelations that police colluded with loyalists in at
least 15 murders until the late 1990s in North Belfast alone also shape nationalist and
Catholic perspectives toward the RUC/PSNI.
14
Finally, nationalists find it disingenuous that Orange leaders refuse to talk with Sinn
Fin elected officials, when they are willing to talk with and work in coalition with
loyalist paramilitary groups, as they did in the North and West Belfast Parades Forum
in 2004 in regards to the Springfield Road/Whiterock parade.
15
The Orange refusal to
recognize or speak with the Parades Commission, particularly when a former leader
David Burrows is a member, is likewise baffling.
Leaders of the Ulster Unionist Party, until recently the dominant unionist party in the
north, have long refused to communicate directly with Sinn Fein party members or
leaders of communities that vote for Sinn Fein, alleging links between Sinn Fein and
the IRA. However, in 2006 the UUP formed a parliamentary block with David Irvine,
a moderate loyalist whose Progressive Unionist Party is linked to the Ulster Volunteer
Force. Ian Piasley accused UUP leader Reg Empey of want[ing] the support of a ter-
rorist organization.
16
12. Mark Tierney agus Mirad Nic Curtin, ire sa Nua-Aois (Baile tha Cliath: Gill and MacMillan Ltd., 1979),
leathanaigh 10-12; Sharon Pickering, Women, policing and resistance in Northern Ireland (Belfast: Beyond the Pale
Publications, Ltd., 2002), pp. 23-33.
13. Pickering, 2002, pp. 24-25.
14. Owen Bowcott, 15 murders linked to police collusion with loyalists; Special Branch protected paramilitaries,
Ombudsman finds; Calls for public inquiry over role of senior RUC officers, The Guardian, http://www.guardian.
co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,1996611,00.html. Accessed January 22, 2007.
15. For more on this, see Irish Parades Emergency Committee and Brehon Law Society, Law and Lawlessness: Orange
parades in Northern Ireland, Summer 2004 International Observers Report (New York: IPEC and BLS, 2005), 11-
12, available at www.ipecobservers.org.
16. BBC News, DUP rejects first minister post, May 22, 2006,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/5005192.stm. Accessed December 18, 2006.
38 11 YEARS ON
v. Policing analysis
A graph charting the last 11 years of interaction among the Royal Ulster Constabulary/
Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), contentious Orange parades, parade sup-
porters, and Nationalist communities resistant to such parades might look like a print-
out from a social seismograph, tracking the after-shocks of war and social upheaval
in Northern Ireland.
Evaluating conduct of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) during the 2007
Marching Season and the social and political conditions under which PSNI parade
monitoring operations were conducted, places in focus how far the PSNI has come
in the last 11 years during which IPEC and the Brehon Law Society have observed
contentious Orange parades.
During these 11 years, the PSNI and its predecessor, the Royal Ulster Constabulary
(RUC), passed from what nationalists and much of the world would view as a sectar-
ian paramilitary force serving a sectarian state to a modern, professional police force
gaining the trust of both communities in Northern Ireland.
Society continues to change for the better in Northern Ireland, if one accepts that
improvement can be measured by the ability of individuals to realize their potential,
no matter what their class, religion or political persuasion may be. Progress may
also be measured by adherence to a rule of law based on actual and objective social
justice. Social justice can be calibrated by the degree of fairness in recognizing and
administering rights and obligations of citizens, regardless of their class, religion or
political affiliation.
Progress in policing does not succeed in a social or political vacuum. Management
of contentious parades cannot occur without cooperation of communities affected by
these parades. Fortunately, social and political progress has created the circumstances
under which vastly improved police leadership, training, recruitment and resources
have allowed the PSNI to move forward fairly and effectively. Orange parades and
the social maelstrom of their often violent supporters.
Some on the fringes of both communities do not accept, for vastly different reasons,
the need for change in police conduct or the depth of commitment to change by the
PSNI. Both see the PSNI anchored, or imprisoned, by history.
Some officers in the RUC were unapologetic bigots and sought to undermine change,
and even peace by forcing Orange Parades through nationalist communities to dem-
onstrate unionist dominance. Some republican extremists still view the PSNI as influ-
enced by remnants of sectarianism and worse, and point to the lack of transparency in
Progress in policing
does not succeed
in a social or
political vacuum
removing such influences from the successor PSNI. Some within the unionist commu-
nity, and particularly among retired police associations, bemoan the loosening of ties
among the police, the Orange Order, Masonic lodges and the unionist establishment.
An evaluation of police conduct during the 2007 marching season suggests that
the views of republican extremists and the retired police officer associations are
equally incorrect.
To appreciate the breath of change in policing of the Orange parades, a review of the
past provides a graphic measurement of that change.
The Past
The past of policing in Northern Ireland, and in particular policing of Orange parades,
is built upon contradictions. The contradictions stem from no more mysterious source
than differences in allegiances among men and women within the RUC, and to a lesser
degree in its successor, the PSNI. Some officers gave their highest allegiance to the
rule of law and a just society. Others were only willing to extend the benefit of the
laws protection to those who shared their unionist background.
The Public Records Office in Belfast released on January 1, 2007, a report written by
the then Inspector General of the RUC, Sir Richard Pym, on August 8, 1958. The report
was addressed to the Secretary to the Ministry of Home Affairs in Stormont, the seat of
government in Northern Ireland. He referred in his report to an incident at the village of
Dungiven in Co. Derry involving an Orange band parade through the nationalist village.
His report, as summarized in the January 1, 2007 edition of the Irish News, placed the
impact of party processions in historical context. Sir Pym stated:
Past experience in Ireland has shown that a recurrence of such incidents from
time to time can lead in the end only to serious sectarian riots and communal
disorders in which the whole country will eventually become embroiled. The
riots of 1935 [in Belfast] are perhaps the clearest example of what can happen.
These did not originate spontaneously from an attack on an Orange parade on
the Twelfth of July 1935. The sectarian tension had been growing for years
beforehand through smaller incidents of one kind or another until it took only
a spark to set off the fire.
The Inspector General drew further from the lessons of history when he attached to
his report a copy of a circular issued from Dublin Castle in 1901, which dealt with the
problem of party processions. He went on to note that the prohibition of processions
in areas hostile to the marchers was not peculiar to Ireland and was frequently used in
England to prohibit meetings or marches where trouble was likely to be caused. He
concluded that a solution to the parades produced by diplomatic methods would be far
more satisfactory and durable than one enforced by rigorous application of the law.
40 11 YEARS ON
The wisdom and strategic vision of Sir Richard Pym remain as valid today as when
first expressed. Unfortunately, senior RUC leadership during the mid and late 1990s
did not share Sir Pyms strategic insights or his detached professionalism.
A new Chief Constable, Ronnie Flanagan, was appointed to lead the RUC in 1996.
His leadership coincided with the period after the initial cease-fire by the IRA, when
fitful negotiations were underway that led ultimately to the Good Friday Agreement
in 1998. Flanagan had previously been in charge of the Special Branch before his
promotion to Chief Constable. Special Branch functioned largely as a political police
and intelligence operation, nominally part of the RUC but operationally largely unac-
countable to normal police and political authorities. A review of Flanagans history
and Special Branch operations affords insights into the difficulty of changing police
culture in Northern Ireland, and the legacy that had to be overcome by current PSNI
leadership. That legacy includes periods of known or suspected collusion among the
RUC Special Branch, Military Intelligence Units and loyalist death squads in murder-
ing suspected republicans and innocent Catholics.
17
A summary of Flanagans career is instructive in understanding the RUC and its rela-
tionship to nationalist communities during the very troubled years of his leadership.
17. Sir Ronald Flanagan was Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary until 2001 and served as Chief Constable
of the re-designated PSNI from 2001 until succeed by Sir Hugh Orde in 2002. Flanagan was subsequently appointed
as Her Majestys Chief Inspector of Constabulary in 2005 despite serious questions being raised about conduct of
elements of the RUC during his tenure as Chief Constable and previously during his operational assignments in
the Special Branch. On January 22, 2007 a report by the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland, Nuala OLoan,
exposed evidence of collusion among officers under the command of Ronnie Flanagan. Ronnie Flanagan denied
any wrongdoing or acting with any knowledge of the events in question. He did not deny that these events had taken
place. A number of politicians demanded that he resign or be fired from his job as Chief Inspector of Constabulary. In
his response to previous criticism of the RUC inquiry into the Omagh bombing of 1998, Ronnie Flanagans response
was that he would publicly commit suicide if he believed the Ombudsmans report was right. Flanagan had served
in the infamous Interrogation Center in Castlereagh from 1973 through 1976 when systematic abuse of detainees
occurred, included sleep deprivation, stripping, beatings and humiliation. Flanagan later returned to Castlereagh
as Duty Inspector in 1978, in charge of the Interrogation Center. Amnesty International published a serious indict-
ment of Castlereagh that same year where ill treatment, by plain clothes detectives, of suspects had occurred with
sufficient frequency to warrant a public inquiry. Amnestys findings related to cases before Flanagan took over as
Duty Inspector. A later British Commission, the Bennett Committee of Inquiry into Police Interrogation Procedures
in Northern Ireland, found that many disturbing incidents occurred while Flanagan was in charge in 1981. Flanagan
was appointed Detective Chief Inspector in command of the Headquarters Mobile Support Units (HMSU), which
were involved in a number of controversial shoot-to-kill incidents in the early 1980s, soon after he took over com-
mand. The HMSU units operated under the control of the Special Branch. Amnesty International took special note
of three consecutive incidences in November and December 1982 in which six unarmed people were killed by these
HMSUs while under the operational control of the Special Branch. While the British Government denied the exis-
tence of a shoot-to-kill policy, John Stalker, a senior officer in the Greater Manchester Police, was sent over to inves-
tigate the killings. He concluded that Special Branch had played a central role in directing operations both before and
after two of three incidents he was investigating. Stalker later wrote a book in which he confirmed that the Special
Branch controlled the official accounts given about these incidents and debriefed Special Branch officers and others
before any regular investigators from the Criminal Investigation Division of the RUC were allowed access. In 1989,
Flanagan was transferred back to RUC Belfast Headquarters to run the Special Branch Operations Department,
which coordinated surveillance and intelligence throughout the north. For a brief period, he was appointed Assistant
Chief Constable in charge of the Complaints and Discipline Branch of the RUC. Even where courts or law granted
awards of thousands of Pounds in compensation claims against RUC officers who wrongfully brutalized citizens, no
successful prosecutions of any RUC man was undertaken by the Complaints and Discipline office under Flanagans
tenure. He returned in 1994 to take overall command of the Special Branch.
Ronnie Flanagan created outrage in the Nationalist communities over his handling of
a particularly controversial parade on the Garvaghy Road, an impoverished Catholic
enclave on the outskirts of a large loyalist town, Portadown. The area of the con-
troversial march is also referred to as Drumcree, taking its name from a Church of
Ireland edifice to which the Orangemen parade and which is close to a T intersection
forming the entry to the Garvaghy Road. Flanagan forced a disputed Orange Order
march down the Garvaghy Road at Drumcree in 1997 in scenes of violence by the
RUC against local residents that touched off riots across Northern Ireland.
Flanagan had previously forced an Orange Parade down the Garvaghy Road in the
summer of 1996, leading to serious street disturbances throughout the North. The
Orange parade had originally been stopped by the RUC but Flanagan reversed his
decision in the face of loyalist violence. The dispute over the Drumcree Orange
parade led to three long summers of violence and death. Flanagan also personally
ordered in 1996 a twenty-four hour curfew of the largely nationalist Lower Ormeau
Road area of Belfast in order to force through an Orange Parade. Flanagan said in
an interview with the Belfast Telegraph on October 31, 1996: The truth has to be
acknowledged that our relationship with the community at large was damaged by the
events of the summer.
Flanagan gave assurances after the 1996 parade that no new parade would be permit-
ted without the consent of the residents. Flanagan later denied given such assurances
but the Mediation Network for Northern Ireland, which had been involved in the
The Short Strand is engu|fed
by band members and
po|ice, Ju|y 12, 2007.
42 11 YEARS ON
discussions that led to those assurances, took the unprecedented step of publishing a
long statement in the newspapers directly contradicting Flanagans denials.
The summer of 1997 at Drumcree proved to be instructive in terms of what would
guide Ronnie Flanagan and the RUC in making determinations about Orange marches
and the RUCs role with respect to those marches.
Flanagan seemed determined to avoid another confrontation with the Orangemen and
loyalists. Research by the Pat Finucane Center suggested that up to thirteen percent
of all RUC officers belonged to the Orange Order at that time.
18
Flanagan justified his decision to force the Orange parade through the impoverished
nationalist ghetto of Drumcree by a most peculiar social formula; i.e., his police
would support the portion of the community that was capable of inflicting more vio-
lence than the other portion of the community. This naked appeal to might makes
right would shock responsible officials and police leadership in most democracies,
but Flanagans determination went unchallenged by any state authority.
Flanagans support of the Orange Order and its parades continued even though one
RUC Constable, Greg Taylor, was being beaten to death after he manned a police
barrier to stop an Apprentice Boys (Orange) march through Dunloy and after another
Police Constable, Frankie Reilly, was killed by a loyalist bomb at Drumcree.
It must be noted that during years of the documented Special Branch collusion with
Loyalist death squads
19
and Flanagans forcing violent Orange marches through
Catholic enclaves, other policemen performed heroic service as they attempted to
uphold the law rather than the interests of any organization or violent elements in the
community.
20
The Police Ombudsman led an investigation into collusion allegations against the
Special Branch and loyalist death squads followed previous investigations by Lord
Stevens and retired Canadian Supreme Court judge Peter Cory.
21
18. (Pat Finucane Center 1997), For God and Ulster: An Alternative Guide to the Loyal Orders, page 30.
19. See, for example, an investigative report dated 22 January 2007 filed by the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland
in the Matter of Raymond McCord, at http://www.policeombudsman.org//Publicationsuploads/BALLAST%20PU
BLIC%20STATEMENT%2022-01-07%20FINAL%20VERSION.pdf
20. The actions of former RUC Detectives Trevor McIlwrath and Johnston Brown are especially noteworthy.
21. The Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs made the following statement on March 6, 2006 in the Dail, or Parliament,
[reported at Vol. 616, No. 2 of the Dail Debates] upon release of Judge Corys report:
Judge Peter Cory was appointed by both Governments following intensive negotiations at Weston Park in the
summer of 2001 to examine six cases where collusion was suspected. Although heavily redacted, the Cory collu-
sion inquiry report on the Pat Finucane case was published by the British Government on 1 April 2004. I remind
the House of Judge Corys concluding paragraph:
Some of the acts summarized above are, in and of themselves, capable of constituting acts of collusion. Further,
the documents and statements I have referred to in this review have a cumulative effect. Considered together,
they clearly indicate to me that there is strong evidence that collusive acts were committed by the Army (FRU),
the RUC Special Branch and the Security Service. I am satisfied that there is a need for a public inquiry.
Flanagans support of
the Orange Order and
its parades continued
even after two police
officers were killed
by loyalist rioters
There were three investigations by Lord Stevens, the last of which focused on alle-
gations of collusion between the murder of famed civil rights and criminal defense
lawyer, Pat Finucane.
22
Although the British government has refused to allow publica-
tion of his full reports, Lord Stevens concluded that rogue elements within the Royal
Ulster Constabulary and the British army helped loyalist paramilitaries to murder
Catholics in the late 1980s - including Mr. Finucane and the student Brian Adam
Lambert. He found collusion leading to the deaths of nationalists had occurred.
23
Two experienced detectives within the non-political Criminal Investigation Division
of the RUC gathered evidence about the killer of Pat Finucane.
24
CID Detective Brown revealed that Ken Barrett had admitted to Detective Brown
in 1991 that he was one of two gunmen who shot Mr. Finucane, but Special Branch
lost the covert audio recording of the confession. Mr. Brown and Mr. McIlwrath
assisted Lord Stevens inquiry into the murder of Mr. Finucane. They were closely
involved in the investigation of murders carried out by loyalist agents of Special
Branch, including Mark Haddock. Haddock has been linked to fifteen murders in one
small area of Belfast while working as an agent of Special Branch. Detectives Brown
and McIlwraths efforts to prosecute Mr. Haddock were undermined by Special
Branch. Mr. Brown and Mr. McIlwrath have said they feared that Haddocks handlers
will not be prosecuted.
25
The Police Ombudsmans report on this particular instance of collusion grew out
of a complaint by the courageous father of one of Mr. Haddocks murder victims.
Raymond McCord, Sr. knew that his son had been murdered by a member of a loyalist
death squad operating from the Mt. Vernon area of north Belfast. Raymond McCord
continued to press for an investigation despite threats to his life.
26
The Irish News concludes that the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) has failed to rec-
ommend a single charge against any of the twenty security force members that Lord
Stevens accused of collusion in April 2003. The Northern Ireland Human Rights
Commission released a statement to the press, which said The Northern Ireland
Human Rights Commission regrets that no prosecutions will be brought in connection
with Lord Stevens most recent investigation into alleged collusion between the secu-
rity forces and loyalist paramilitaries. According to Professor Monica McWilliams,
Chief Commissioner:
22. See a summary of Lord Stevens third report dated 17 April 2003, at http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/issues/violence/docs/ste-
vens3/stevens3summary.pdf. He noted in section 3.1 of his report that obstruction to his investigation was wide-
spread within parts of the Army and the RUC.
23. The Guardian Newspaper, June 25, 2007
24. The Guardian Newspaper, on June 19, 2002 reported that a known terrorist, Ken Barrett, in a BBC Panorama docu-
mentary stated that a police official commissioned the murder of Mr. Finucane. Barrett said The peelers [police]
wanted him wacked. We wacked him and thats the end of the story as far as Im concerned. Finucane would be
alive today if the peelers hadnt interfered.
25. Irish News, January 17, 2007.
26. The Sunday Times January 28, 2007.
44 11 YEARS ON
The Human Rights Commission has noted the many human rights violations
acknowledged by the Stevens investigation to have been carried out by forces
of the State and loyalist paramilitaries. The limited number of prosecutions that
have resulted from the three Stevens inquiries have almost all involved pos-
session of documents, as opposed to the role of State agents in passing on that
information, collusion in planning acts of terrorism, or otherwise breaking the
law. We are disappointed that, following this third investigation, there has been
no effective remedy to address these through the public prosecution system.
Moreover, we believe that this will further undermine public confidence in the
criminal justice system
27
The Guardian Newspaper, dated July 1, 2007, observed that Special Branch officers
often frustrated their colleagues in the CID with sham interviews of suspects, the
withholding of intelligence and even the protection of informant-killers. Out of 100
cases the Police Ombudsman has investigated, a significant number showed that
Special Branch failed to give their colleagues in CID adequate information.
28
Despite all these revelations, the Northern Ireland Retired Police Officers Association
call for an end to inquiries into collusion between the police and terrorist killers con-
trolled by Special Branch.
29

The Irish News reported on June 27, 2007 a statement attributed to Trevor
McIlwrath in which he said: Sir John Stevens was the most senior police officer in
the whole of Britain and he believed he had provided the PPS [Public Prosecution
Service for Northern Ireland] with enough to prove that these people were involved
in collusion. The PPS expected victims families to believe they could not identify
the senior police officers that allowed weapons to be handed back to the UDA. It
doesnt take a rocket scientist to work out who gave the orders to give these weap-
ons back to the UDA. Mr. McIlwrath continued: If the PPS is supposed to be
open and transparent then they should allow the families to see the evidence on
which they decided not to prosecute. Otherwise people are just going to think this
is another cover up.
The decision not to prosecute caused Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Bertie Ahern to
describe that decision as disappointing.
Nuala OLoan, the Police Ombudsman, had an interview with the Sunday Observer
on July 1, 2007. The paper reported that Ms. OLoan believed the lack of prosecu-
tions is partly due to the destruction of the paper trail. To her distress, she discovered
a systematic shredding of records within the RUC, particularly the Special Branch.
27. http://www.nihrc.org/index.php?page=press_news_details&category_id=2&press_id=311
28. The Sunday Observer, July 1, 2007
29. Belfast Telegraph June 17, 2007.
In another interview published in the June 20, 2007 edition of the Irish News, Ms.
OLoan, stated in response to criticism about the dangers of digging too much into the
past: It is perfectly normal across the world for police to be expected to investigate
murders fully. We are asking communities to sign up to a constitutional process and
the rule of law. If the government doesnt uphold these, they will be discredited and
the police will be brought into disrepute again.
After Sir Hugh Orde was appointed as the PSNI Chief Constable in May 2002, he
immediately implemented many changes in the Special Branch. Among other chang-
es, the PSNI announced that it had deactivated a quarter of its informers after a two
year review of covert human intelligence sources.
Unfortunately the climate in which some of the old RUC leadership aligned its inter-
est with the Orange Order and unionist politics continues to afflict PSNI, although in
much less pervasive ways.
The BBC News reported on July 9, 2007 the Fair Employment Tribunal held that two
senior officers colluded to drive an experienced police crime scene photographer out
of his employment. In its ruling, the Tribunal said: The reason why the treatment was
afforded to the claimant is clear. It was because he was engaged to and subsequently
married a Catholic. The decision was made to attempt to force the claimant out of
the police, or at least from Knocknagoney Police Station. On foot of that decision,
steps were taken for a number of years to bring that about. The Tribunal awarded
Riot po|ice, Ardoyne, North
Be|fast, Ju|y 12, 2007
46 11 YEARS ON
the Police Photographer, Steven Murphy, the sum of 45,000 and directed that he
should be re-instated. The Tribunal heard that Mr. Murphy, a Protestant, had worked
for two years for the RUC in the 1980s and became a civilian photographer in 1998.
The Tribunal heard two officers, known only as Inspector F and Acting Sergeant K
worked to make life difficult for the claimant, as Murphy was Presbyterian and was
engaged to a Catholic woman. Remarks were made by other officers that Murphys
fiance was a whore. The police also told Mr. Murphys new wife that he was a
lunatic. The Belfast Telegraph reporting on the same case in its July 8, 2007 edition
said the Fair Employment Tribunal ruling showed the conduct of the senior officers
made a mockery of the equality measures in post-Patten Policing. The Tribunal
was also told that Mr. Murphy was visited by Special Branch who informed him his
life was in danger and that information may have come from some of his colleagues.
Murphy later had two run-ins with suspected paramilitaries, including one attempt to
run his car off the road.
It is clear that while some of the sectarian leadership of the RUC and Special Branch
who were involved in collusion eased into retirement with generous pensions funded
by the British government, the community at-large is asked to accept that the bad
apples have all voluntarily left the PSNI. But there has never any transparent under-
taking to screen the PSNI for those with deeply flawed disciplinary and human rights
records, including involvement in collusion to commit murder, with the object of
removing them from the PSNI. The long-standing activities of an inspector in the
Murphy case is evidence of a continued poisoned atmosphere in some dark corners of
the PSNI command structure.
However, we should be just as ready to acknowledge that despite the continued
presence of officers with poisoned sectarian backgrounds who may have engaged in
criminal conduct, the new leadership of the PSNI has worked with energy to recast
the PSNI as a professional and widely accepted police force. Intelligent leadership
at most senior levels has insured the old days of accommodating extremist elements
fostering marching disorders has come to an end.
The Present
Review of IPEC observers reports and reports in the media of the 2007 marching
season note only problems of police inaction, rather than accommodation of extremist
elements that was the hallmark of parades ten years ago.
Instances of police inaction occur principally when police stand by as prohibited para-
military flags and symbols, and the playing of provocative sectarian music by Orange
bands, are inflicted on Catholic areas. However these lapses, which the police gener-
ally justify as avoiding confrontations with Orange marchers or supporters, should
not overshadow the very positive communications between the communities affected
by these parades, as well as police involvement in community interaction. It must
Remarks were made by
officers that Murphys
fiance was a whore
also be noted that the PSNI have attempted to prosecute violations of the Parades
Commission rulings, the Public Processions Act and the Public Order (Northern
Ireland) Act of 1987, but have received little support from the PPS. As in instances
of serious criminal cases with political dimensions, the PPS seems not to energize
itself unless the PSNI presents a prosecution brief that is sufficiently airtight to barely
warrant activity other than mere ministerial presentment. The PPS does not assist the
PSNI in the field. The lack of accountability of the PPS is a growing concern, and
draws parallels in the minds of some human rights attorneys to the lack of account-
ability that previously characterized the activities of Special Branch.
The real tidal change in police interaction with parades can be traced to the Whiterock
parade on the evening of September 13, 2005. The Belfast Telegraph in its September
14, 2005 edition reported the full horror of Loyalist violence during three nights of
rioting in Northern Ireland was revealed by the PSNI last night. During some of the
worse disturbances the province has seen in years, one hundred fifteen (115) shots
were fired at police and one hundred and forty-six (146) blast bombs were thrown.
It was soon apparent that the Whiterock riots were coordinated by loyalists and some
Orange lodge members with disturbances elsewhere in Belfast and in other communi-
ties. The Chief Constable was reported by the Irish Times on September 15, 2005, as
stating the violence was one of the most dangerous riot situations in the history of
policing in the United Kingdom.
As we noted in the 2005 IPEC report, Sectarianism on Parade, the 2005 Whiterock
parade, and police response to violence associated with that and related parades, was
a watershed event. The PSNI, through courageous and intelligent deployment and
An evidence co||ecting
team of the Po|ice Service
of Northern Ire|and. In the
past, po|ice were criticized
for fai|ing to treat vio|ent
parades as crime scenes.
48 11 YEARS ON
principled upholding of the law, in contrast to Chief Constable Flanagans power
equation in the 1997 Drumcree Parade debacle, allowed the nationalists to have con-
fidence in the willingness of the PSNI, at great personal risk, to uphold the law. The
2005 Whiterock Orange parade riots convinced many in the unionist community that
the destructive rioting that accompanied so much of the parade activities in the prior
ten years was destroying their communities as well as their neighbors homes.
The BBC news on June 30, 2007 reported that 2007 Orange Order parade in the
Whiterock area of West Belfast has passed off without major incidents. The BBC
went on to note however, it was a far cry from 2005s parade, when police officers
were attacked with petrol and glass bombs, as well as live rounds the during troubles.
The same article stated Saturdays march was the second year in a row that it had
passed off peacefully, and Chief Superintendent Gary White praised the work carried
out on all sides to ensure this.
Chief Superintendent White summed up with simple accuracy in his statement to the
press what had been evident to the Inspector General of the RUC back in 1958 and
various parliamentary commissions in the 1800s. Contentious parades are not simply
a police problem. The solution to the violence and bitterness stemming from these
parades is not simply a police challenge. Chief Constable Hugh Orde has pointed out
as much on numerous occasions.
The leadership of the Orange Orders must find accommodation with Catholic commu-
nities through which the Orange Orders want to force their parades, where the culture
of the Orange Order represents to these communities only the most negative connota-
tions based on past experience. No responsible voice in the nationalist communities
objects to Orange parades taking place in unionist communities where they may be
welcome and seen in a different light. Some leaders of the Orange Order have stated
that they are desirous only of promoting cultural and religious tradition. However,
people of good will in the Orange Orders must recognize that others among their
number have allowed their lodges and marches to be highjacked in past years and
used as instruments to intimidate and terrorize nationalist communities. The Orange
Order and unionist leadership must undertake measures to convince people that the
Orange parades are benign and not designed to be a triumphant demonstration and
threat against the minority community.
The police have clearly changed for the better. The world will now wait to see if the
Orange Order can change with equal intelligence, energy and foresight.
The 2005 Whiterock
Orange parade
riots convinced
many in the unionist
community that the
destructive rioting that
accompanied so much
of the parade activities
in the prior ten years
was destroying their
communities as well as
their neighbors homes
The police have clearly
changed for the better.
The world will now wait
to see if the Orange
Order can change
with equal intelligence,
energy and foresight
vI. Conclusion
In Northern Ireland the desire to march and the resistance to it have deep roots in
their respective communities. Orangemen have marched through nationalist, Roman
Catholic neighborhoods for hundreds of years, and nationalist resistance to Orange
parades started at their inception in the 1790s. Nationalist residents called for interna-
tionals to observe Orange marches through their neighborhoods and provide indepen-
dent witness to the violence and havoc it created and to speak publicly about their long
held and deeply felt objection to marching, its attendant violence, the improper, illegal
and loathsome celebration of that anti-Catholic violence and the display of flags and
emblems of illegal organizations that menaced, attacked and murdered Catholics
and nationalists. It was the beginning of the peace process and parades, we came to
understand, were but a sign of the inequality nationalists experienced as subjects of
a government that failed to represent their interests. Graffiti near Short Strand reads
Irish out of Ireland and summed up how residents perceived the state and their place
in it, including the police.
IPEC and Brehon Law Society observers have witnessed significant changes in
marching since 1997. The degree of militarization, numbers of police, police vehicles
and helicopters, use of riot gear and attack dogs is was significantly less than it was
eleven years ago when IPEC and Brehon Law Society observers began this project.
Demilitarization is both due to and allows for cross-community dialogue, an impor-
tant predicate to the end of violence.
The Whiterock Orange
parade enters Workmans
Gate into the unionist
community next to
Springfie|d Road,
Ju|y 12, 2007.
50 11 YEARS ON
While the Orange Order continues to refuse to talk with residents groups or recog-
nize the Parades Commission, dialogue between leaders of republican/nationalist and
loyalist/unionist communities is welcome and has worked to diffuse tensions in 2007.
Self-policing also proved successful in averting disruption and rioting. However, the
display of UVF and UDA flags and emblems at many July 2007 parades still violate
the Good Friday Agreements guarantee of freedom from sectarian harassment and
obstruct nationalist confidence in the PSNI and the state.
Make sectarianism history reads the banner held by Ardoyne residents. While the
2007 marching season was the quietest we have witnessed since we started observing
contested loyal order parades in 1996, it is critical to note that sectarian hatred still
percolates just below the surface:
Northern Ireland remains highly segregated, and Catholics are still nearly twice
as likely as Protestants to be unemployed30 years after fair employment leg-
islation was adopted to address anti-Catholic disadvantage in the north.
34
The Ulster Volunteer Force has committed eight murders since 2004. At a
minimum, the Ombudsmans devastating 2007 report documenting systematic
collusion between police and loyalist paramilitaries should underscore the need
to disarm loyalist paramilitaries.
We are hopeful that the relatively peaceful nature of the 2007 marching season,
coupled with recent political movement in the peace process could mean that 2008
will be a year of significant political progress in the north of Ireland. It is essential
that the cross-community dialogue continue and that the values of substantive justice
and equality, essential to good government triumph over sectarianism and state sup-
ported violence.
34. William C. Thompson, Jr., Comptroller, The MacBride Principles and the Equality Agenda in Northern Ireland: A
Status Report. New York: Office of the Comptroller, Bureau of Asset Management, November, 2006; Committee
on the Administration of Justice, Equality in Northern Ireland: The Rhetoric and the Reality. Belfast: CAJ, 2006.
An analysis of unemployment rates in Portadown, Co. Armagh in the late 1990s found that Catholics experienced
unemployment spells that lasted twice as long as Protestants, as well as higher overall rates of unemployment.
Acknowledgements
AuThORS:
Stephen M. McCabe, James P. Cullen, Bernie Brophy, Mary Elizebeth Bartholomew,
Sean Cahill, Eileen Clancy, Elizabeth Delude-Dix, Marilyn Horan, Matt Sheahan
EdITORS
Mary Elizebeth Bartholomew, Sean Cahill, Eileen Clancy, Patricia Delude
PhOTO EdITOR
Eileen Clancy
PhOTOS
Eileen Clancy, Elizabeth Delude-Dix, Patricia Delude, Marilyn Horan,
Stephen M. McCabe, Elizabeth Press
PROduCTION, dISTRIBuTION
Mary Elizebeth Bartholomew, Sean Cahill, Debra Levine
2007 OBSERvER dELEgATION
Bernie Brophy, Eileen Clancy, Elizabeth Delude-Dix, Patricia Delude,
Salvatore Fichera, Marilyn Horan, Stephen M. McCabe, Elizabeth Press
gRAPhIC dESIgN
Samuel Buggeln
IPEC and the Brehon Law Society gratefully acknowledge the consistent and
generous financial support of the Irish Institute. Prior reports are available at
www.ipecobservers.org.
Irish Parades Emergency Committee & Brehon Law Society, 2008. May be reprinted freely as a
whole document, with attribution. May not be excerpted without permission.

Ipec - XX - IPEC07

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Ipec - XX - IPEC07

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

11 years on

orange marches and nationalist

You might also like