Copied below is a recent email received from Martin Galvin, National Chair, Freedom for All Ireland. Please read for background information regarding Orange Order marches in Northern Ireland.
The Webinar will be broadcast live on Saturday October 24th at 11am Eastern time 4pm in Ireland and available on AOH YouTube. Please register.
As the Orange Order continues moves to force a march down the Garvaghy Road, including threats to revive other previously prohibited marches through nationalist areas, Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition leader Breandan Mac Cionnaith, will give a special update this Saturday. He will be joined by Gerard Rice, spokesperson for the Lower Ormeau Concerned Community, who now face a threatened November 7th march by the Apprentice Boys, causing a wave of fear in the area which suffered more than 50 murders during the Troubles. Breandan Mac Cionnaith and Gerard Rice will appear in a live webinar broadcast hosted by the AncientOrder of Hibernians (AOH) on Saturday, October 24th at 11 AM Eastern Time, 4 PM Irish time.
GARVAGHY ROAD
After 13 days of massive street protests supported by nationalist political leaders and sympathizers from across Ireland, British Secretary Chris Bryant prohibited the Orange Order march that had been scheduled to push through the nationalist Garvaghy Road on September 27th. The march, banned by the Parades Commission for 28 years, had been inexplicably approved, based on an assessment from the PSNI Constabulary that it could proceed without major disruption, while bringing in 200 constables from outside the north to deal with the major disruption.
The march from Portadown Orange Hall to Drumcree Church is one of literally thousands of loyal order marches annually. The Orangemen march from the town to Drumcree Church in a direct route that does not intrude on any nationalist area, and could march directly back without giving offense or meeting protests.
However the Orangemen demand to go out of their way through the Garvaghy Road district that is around 97% nationalist. The march would also have been a traumatic reminder of 21 victims murdered in the years 1995-98, as part of the campaign to force a triumphal march through the Garvaghy Road. These victims included their solicitor Rosemary Nelson, three Quinn children and Robert Hamill who was stomped to death near a parked Royal Ulster Constabulary Landrover.
Breandan Mac Cionnaith, the spokesperson for the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition will explain the feelings of residents, as they face a renewed crisis with the Orange Order trying to overturn the ban both in court and by a series of new marches in Portadown and elsewhere.
LOWER ORMEAU CONCERNED COMMUNITY
The Parades Commission is considering a request by the Apprentice Boys for a march into the nationalist Lower Ormeau Road on Saturday November 7th.This is the first try at parading in a contentious area since the Commission approved the parade through Garvaghy Road. Loyal Order parades have been banned from the nationalist Lower Ormeau Road since 1999.
The route would pass Sean Graham’s bookmakers where five Catholics were murdered by loyalist paramilitaries in 1992.A memorial to these victims has been attacked multiple times in recent weeks
Gerard Rice has represented the Lower Ormeau Concerned Community, since violent clashes erupted over parading disputes 30 years ago.
*John is a Founder and the Publisher and Editor of iIrish (2006); a Founder and Deputy Director of Cleveland Irish Cultural Festival for more than 35 years (1982); Founder of Speak Irish Cleveland (2010); A Founder of The Greater Cleveland An Gorta Mor Stone (2000); an archivist, spokesman, emcee, Spoken Word presenter and author of five books, so far.
