Police defended over handling of Orange marches
The chairman of Northern Ireland’s Policing Board today defended the PSNI from criticism of their handling of controversial Protestant marches this summer.
Professor Desmond Rea claimed police were placed in a “no win situation” in north Belfast on Monday where violence flared after the Orange Order’s Twelfth of July celebrations.
Nationalist youths in the Ardoyne area attacked soldiers and police after Orange Order members and their supporters were allowed to pass by as they returned from the city’s main Twelfth of July demonstration despite Parades Commission restrictions.
Twenty-five police officers were injured during the disturbances.
After a meeting with Deputy Chief Constable Paul Leighton today, Prof Rea said: “Once again, in north Belfast, the police were placed in a no-win situation, and I fully endorse the view police can not be held responsible for the fallout from the parading issue.
“There is no doubt the significant efforts of community representatives and political leaders on the ground, on both sides, played a pivotal role in managing tensions within communities and interface areas. Their work is to be applauded and encouraged.”
Sinn Féin and the SDLP have criticised the police’s decision to allow Orangemen and their supporters to pass the Ardoyne area.
Unionist and nationalist politicians have also criticised the Parades Commission’s decision-making this summer.
Prof Rea also revealed Policing Board members had asked Northern Ireland’s most senior policeman Hugh Orde to produce a report by September on tensions during this year’s marching season.
He said board members needed the report to enable them to consider all the issues surrounding the policing of the marching season.
“The board is very alive to the challenges involved and this report will also allow a full assessment of the human and financial costs to policing,” he said.
“While the debate rages on about decisions of the Parades Commission, the bottom line is that the police have to deliver a policing solution to what is, fundamentally, a wider community issue.”
