Adams offers Orangemen talks on parades
The Protestant Orange Order was today urged to meet Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams and reassess its attitude to parades through nationalist areas.
Welcoming the “relatively peaceful” Orange Order Twelfth of July celebrations over the weekend, Mr Adams said he had always defended the right of Orangemen to march.
But he added this right needed to be balanced “with full respect for the right of others, and in particular, the rights of host communities”.
The West Belfast MP said: “Following on from the de-escalation in the Drumcree dispute, the Orange Order now has the space to adopt a new approach which is non-contentious and which is based on dialogue and mutual respect.
“The Order should begin a process of diaogue with nationalists and republicans to hear and understand their perspective on Orange marches.
“And, of course, there is a similar responsibility on nationalists and republicans to meet with, listen to and understand the Orange perspective.
“There are only a very few contentious marches each year and we should now set about the task of resolving these through dialogue and agreement.
“I know that there are difficulties for the Orange Order in all of this, but I am available to meet the Orange leadership at any time to facilitate, or as part of, such a process of dialogue.”
Only a few incidents marred this year’s Orange Order Twelfth of July celebrations which mark King William III’s victory in the 1690 Battle of the Boyne.
In north Belfast, there was minor trouble on Saturday night as Orangemen passed the Ardoyne shops amid tight security on their return from the city’s main Twelfth demonstration.
A five-year-old boy wearing a Glasgow Rangers shirt was treated in hospital for a serious eye injury after nationalist youths in south Belfast stoned the car he was travelling in with his father who was wearing a loyalist bandsman’s uniform.
A firefighter in Bushmills, Co Antrim, also sustained an eye injury when loyalists attacked his crew as it responded to an emergency on bonfire night.
A memorial to five people gunned down in a south Belfast bookmaker’s shop in the nationalist Lower Ormeau area was also desecrated before Saturday’s marches.
Security, political, community and business chiefs have been breathing a sigh of relief that Belfast and other areas have not witnessed the sort of street disturbances which accompanied the marching season in recent years.
Mr Adams said today that, as an Irish republican party, Sinn Fein wanted a society which respected and valued all sections of the people on the island of Ireland.
This, he said, included those who defined themselves as British and identified with Orangeism.
“For this reason, I have always defended the right of Orangemen to march,” the Sinn Fein president claimed.
“But this right must be exercised with full respect for the right of others, and in particular, the rights of host communities.
“Those who wish to celebrate the Orange culture must be free to do so, but there is no justification for Orange marches taking place where they cause hurt and offence.
“The reality is that there are areas where Orange marches are regarded as provocative, triumphalist and offensive.
“The Orange Order do not have to agree with this but should recognise that this is a reality and on that basis should reassess their attitude to parades through nationalist areas.
“At a wider level the Order should review its approach to the nationalist community.”
