Orde: Clear up parades law
Northern Ireland Chief Constable Hugh Orde today called for a review of parades legislation in a bid to bring supporters at flashpoint marches into line.
Mr Orde told the Northern Ireland Policing Board that the law in relation to parade followers needed clarifying before the next marching season.
“Currently it seems to me, and I am not a lawyer, that the law excludes followers from the determination, thus limiting what the commission can do.
“We are not comfortable with any situation that can lead to misunderstanding and ambiguity,” he said.
Police came under fierce criticism when they escorted 250 supporters past angry protesters at the flashpoint Ardoyne area of north Belfast on July 12.
Nationalists accused the police of overturning the Parades Commission ruling, which ruled that only lodge members and marshals could take part on the return leg of the parade.
It was revealed at today’s Policing Board meeting that police hope to identify at least 21 people involved in rioting, which led to 25 police officers and six soldiers being injured.
Mr Orde said, while the marching season had been relatively peaceful, the cost of policing this year's parades had run into millions of pounds.
