DERRY HAD its quietest Apprentice Boys parade in over a decade as only four people were arrested for minor public order offences during Saturday’s event.
In Belfast, a controversial parade past Ardoyne also passed off peacefully. Members of the Apprentice Boys of Derry from Ligoniel in north Belfast paraded past the nationalist enclave on Saturday before leaving for Derry and the main demonstrations.
The area was scarred by three nights of serious rioting last month following the Twelfth of July marches. About 30 Apprentice Boys marched down Crumlin Road, past a nationalist counter-demonstration at Ardoyne.
There was a significant PSNI presence at the flashpoint, where republican and loyalist communities live in close proximity. The majority of the officers were in normal uniform, but up to two dozen were deployed in full riot gear and many more police officers were stationed locally in case of trouble.
Some 50 demonstrators lined one side of the road and protested in silence as the loyalists passed by. Under the terms of a ruling by the Parades Commission, which rules on contentious marches and other demonstrations, the Apprentice Boys were not permitted to follow a band. Permission had been turned down for the Shankill Star band, which commemorates a loyalist killer, to lead the parade.
Permission was later denied for a replacement, the Hillview flute band, to take its place.
The marchers were greeted by loud cheering as they reached the loyalist Woodvale Road in the Shankill area – 200 metres from the sectarian interface at Ardoyne.
Joe Marley of the Crumlin and Ardoyne Residents’ Association (Cara) said the confrontation was unnecessary. “The parade is taking place in Derry. Residents came out in local opposition to this parade. From our perspective, if the Apprentice Boys stopped this coat-trailing exercise it would have been a non-issue.”
Mr Marley said a number of diversionary activities, including the Ardoyne Fleadh, has been organised to help keep young people off the streets.
Sinn Féin Junior Minister Gerry Kelly said there was no desire in Ardoyne for the marching issue to remain unresolved for years ahead. “This is a feeder parade. It is people marching through a number of Catholic areas to get on a bus to go to Derry. They have a different view, I understand that. But if we are trying to reach a conclusion, then it is the residents’ group Cara they need to talk to.
“The loyal orders, either individually or collectively, need to talk to the residents’ groups. If you eschew dialogue, if you don’t try dialogue, then how do you get anywhere?”
Rather than leaving the issue until next year’s marching season, he pressed for talks to begin in September.
In Derry, more than 600 police officers, among them several overseas policing monitors, were on duty for the parade, which included just over 10,000 Apprentice Boys and 100 bands. The event celebrated the 321st anniversary of the ending of the 17th century siege of the city.
Crowd control barriers and security screens were erected at locations along the parade route which in the past had been the scene of sectarian clashes. However, in terms of sectarian incidents, Saturday’s parade passed off peacefully.
Colum Eastwood, Derry’s SDLP mayor, watched the parade as it passed through the city centre, and said everyone involved in organising it deserved credit for a violence-free day.
“We have seen all too often in the past this parade ending in sectarian clashes and sectarian violence, but today has been a great step forward in terms of community relations in the city,” he said.
Chief Supt Stephen Martin, who was in charge of the PSNI’s operation during the parade, said the Apprentice Boys and the entire community of Derry had shown remarkable maturity.