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Loyalists create a new flashpoint and shoot themselves in foot Loyalists create a new flashpoint and shoot themselves in foot
(about 1 hour later)
By a bitter, depressing twist of irony the scene of the latest battleground in the Ulster loyalist marching controversies happens to be a holy place that once symbolised Protestant-Catholic co-operation. St Patrick's is the second oldest Catholic church in Belfast and its construction at the start of the 19th century was helped on its way partly by the generosity of Protestants in the city. Two centuries later the church in Upper Donegall Street has become a fresh focal point for trouble. By a bitter, depressing twist of irony the scene of the latest battleground in the Ulster loyalist marching controversies happens to be a holy place that once symbolised Protestant-Catholic co-operation.
It all started on 12 July - loyalism's most sacred day. A loyalist band from the nearby Shankill Road were captured by Sinn Fein activists on film playing a sectarian tune outside the shut doors of St Patrick's. As they wheeled around the street they played a song mocking the Irish Famine, a ditty that urges Scottish Catholics of Irish origin to "go home" now that the Famine is long over. Naturally, the secret filming when it was broadcast outraged even moderate nationalists given that it showed utter disrespect for a place of worship. It also prompted the Parades Commission - the body that adjudicates on disputed Orange Order and other loyalist marches - to impose new restrictions on future marches passing St Patrick's.
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/>The Parades Commission ruled that no songs were to be played as loyalist bands filed past St Patrick's last Saturday, the traditional final day of the Ulster marching season when the Protestant Royal Black Preceptory parade all over Northern Ireland. The Commission also banned the Shankill Road band, the Young Conway Volunteers, from passing the church. However, not only did the Young Conway Volunteers defy the ruling but a slew of other Kick-the-Pope style bands marched past St Patrick's (possibly in solidarity with their Shankill colleagues) and blared out their music. 		St Patrick's is the second oldest Catholic church in Belfast and its construction at the start of the 19th century was helped on its way partly by the generosity of Protestants in the city. Two centuries later the church in Upper Donegall Street has become a fresh focal point for trouble.
This defiance enraged a group of nationalists protesting against the march and for a brief period there was some hand to hand fighting on Donegall Street between both sides. Riot squad officers had to intervene while the whole scene around this northern corner of Belfast city centre crackled with menace, the atmosphere poisonous with sectarian hatred. It all started on 12 July - loyalism's most sacred day. A loyalist band from the nearby Shankill Road were captured by Sinn Fein activists on film playing a sectarian tune outside the shut doors of St Patrick's.
Normally that would be the end of it all for this year at least. Once the Blackmen, as they are known colloquially to all communities, march, the season of parading finishes. But 2012 will be different. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Ulster Convenant when tens of thousands of unionists pledged to oppose the Liberal government's plans for Home Rule for Ireland, many Ulster Protestants even signing it in their own blood. All of the loyalist marching institutions plan a major rally in the centre of Belfast to mark that anniversary on Saturday 29 September and once again the main route from the loyalist redoubts of north Belfast includes passage past St Patrick's church. As they wheeled around the street they played a song mocking the Irish famine, a ditty that urges Scottish Catholics of Irish origin to "go home" now that the famine is long over.
The loyalists' appalling behaviour both on 12 July and last weekend has resulted in the creation of a new tension-point across the many marching routes of Ulster. Nationalists and republicans, Sinn Fein and supporters of more hard-line dissident groups as well non-aligned Catholics, will protest against the presence of loyalist bands (some of whom have strong links to loyalist terror groups) passing by this much loved institution of Belfast Catholicism. The scene therefore is set for a potentially major, and possibly violent confrontation at the end of next month. Naturally, the secret filming, when it was broadcast, outraged even moderate nationalists, given that it showed utter disrespect for a place of worship.
The St Patrick's chapel dispute therefore poses important challenges to a number of key actors in post-ceasefire, power-sharing Northern Ireland. The first of these is of course the cross community regional coalition in Stormont and its dominant political forces - Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionist Party. It also prompted the Parades Commission - the body that adjudicates on disputed Orange Order and other loyalist marches - to impose new restrictions on future marches passing St Patrick's.
/>
/>The Parades Commission ruled that no songs were to be played as loyalist bands filed past St Patrick's last Saturday, the traditional final day of the Ulster marching season when the Protestant Royal Black Preceptory parade all over Northern Ireland.
At a meta-political level the DUP and Sinn Fein leadership have established a strong, business like working relationship in the day to day running of Northern Ireland personified by First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness. It is clearly in both parties and both men's interests that one parade at one single flashpoint could cause serious inter-communal damage this autumn. Moreover, the dispute risks disrupting the Sinn Fein-DUP axis given that even ministers in the Cabinet have taken radically opposing positions about the rights and wrongs of the marches past St.Patricks over the summer. McGuinness and Robinson will undoubtedly be expending a lot of energy once the holidays are over seeking to find a compromise before Ulster Convenant day. Otherwise the atmosphere between the two main parties in the power sharing executive could be further poisoned. The Commission also banned the Shankill Road band, the Young Conway Volunteers, from passing the church.
For the DUP in particular the party should also recognise there is an inherent danger lurking in this new dispute for their partners in government. Perceptions of loyalist triumphalism and sectarianism on the rise, even outside Catholic churches, can only be good news for Sinn Fein's critics in dissident republicanism who will use any riot or communal confrontation to hoover up new recruits among alienated, unemployed, politically-disconnected nationalist youths. However, not only did the Young Conway Volunteers defy the ruling but a slew of other Kick-the-Pope style bands marched past St Patrick's (possibly in solidarity with their Shankill colleagues) and blared out their music.
In terms of policing the PSNI sustained some pointed criticism even from the likes of the head of Belfast's Catholics, Dr Noel Treanor. The Bishop was critical about the PSNI's inability last Saturday to enforce the Parades Commission's ruling on bands and sectarian songs outside St Patrick's. The Police have vowed to arrest, question and possibly charge those seen openly defying the law last weekend. Yet even they start pursue those who broke the ban the next question is how they will react to events on the ground in a month's time? If for instance the Parades Commission imposed another vow of silence as bands passed by St Patrick's will the PSNI execute that ruling on the streets? Furthermore, just imagine if the Commission decided to re-route altogether Orangemen and loyalist marchers away from Donegall Street, opting instead for the parade to file into Belfast City Centre down the Shankill Road. Would this result in a major stand-off security headache for the PSNI? This defiance enraged a group of nationalists protesting against the march and for a brief period there was some hand-to-hand fighting on Donegall Street between both sides.
The final group under stress thanks to the emergence of this new flashpoint are the loyalists themselves, or to be more specific, the loyalist terror groups such as the Ulster Volunteer Force and the Ulster Defence Association. These are organisations officially committed not only to cease-fires but to decommission their weapons and their military-style structures. In past marching disputes such as Drumcree there is clear evidence that most (but not all) mainstream loyalist groups actually tried to lower tensions along sectarian interfaces and even eventually co-operated with republicans to keep the peace at some of the peace lines. Is it really in the interests of the UVF and UDA leadership's to allow a spontaneous upsurge in violence from its grassroots that could in a worse case scenario unravel everything they sought to achieve since the 1994 ceasefires? Riot squad officers had to intervene while the whole scene around this northern corner of Belfast city centre crackled with menace, the atmosphere poisonous with sectarian hatred.
The date of 29 September 2012 could prove to be a pivotal one in 21st century Northern Ireland. It could turn out to be the day the power-sharing politicians on the big hill at Stormont and the community activists on the streets of working class Belfast demonstrated their ability to defuse a dispute that has deep roots in the sectarian ravaged history of their city. Or it could be the day on which the contradictions between co-operation in politics and confrontation between still rival communities is laid bare for the entire world to see. Normally that would be the end of it all – for this year at least. Once the Blackmen, as they are known colloquially to all communities, march, the season of parading finishes.
But 2012 will be different. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Ulster Convenant, when tens of thousands of unionists pledged to oppose the Liberal government's plans for Home Rule for Ireland, many Ulster Protestants even signing it in their own blood.
All of the loyalist marching institutions plan a major rally in the centre of Belfast to mark that anniversary on Saturday 29 September, and once again the main route from the loyalist redoubts of north Belfast includes passage past St Patrick's church.
The loyalists' appalling behaviour both on 12 July and last weekend has resulted in the creation of a new tension-point across the many marching routes of Ulster. Nationalists and republicans, Sinn Fein and supporters of more hardline dissident groups, as well non-aligned Catholics, will protest against the presence of loyalist bands (some of whom have strong links to loyalist terrorist groups) passing by this much loved institution of Belfast Catholicism.
The scene therefore is set for a potentially major, and possibly violent confrontation at the end of next month.
The St Patrick's chapel dispute therefore poses important challenges to a number of key players in post-ceasefire, power-sharing Northern Ireland.
The first of these is of course the cross-community regional coalition in Stormont and its dominant political forces - Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionist Party.
At a meta-political level the DUP and Sinn Fein leadership have established a strong, businesslike working relationship in the day-to-day running of Northern Ireland, personified by first minister Peter Robinson and deputy first minister Martin McGuinness.
It is clearly not in either the parties' or the two men's interests if one parade at one single flashpoint causes serious inter-communal damage this autumn.
Moreover, the dispute risks disrupting the Sinn Fein-DUP axis, given that even ministers in the cabinet have taken radically opposing positions about the rights and wrongs of the marches past St Patrick's over the summer.
McGuinness and Robinson will undoubtedly be expending a lot of energy once the holidays are over seeking to find a compromise before Ulster Convenant day. Otherwise the atmosphere between the two main parties in the power-sharing executive could be further poisoned.
For the DUP in particular the party should also recognise there is an inherent danger lurking in this new dispute for their partners in government.
Perceptions of loyalist triumphalism and sectarianism on the rise, even outside Catholic churches, can only be good news for Sinn Fein's critics in dissident republicanism who will use any riot or communal confrontation to hoover up new recruits among alienated, unemployed, politically-disconnected nationalist youths.
In terms of policing, the PSNI sustained some pointed criticism even from the likes of the head of Belfast's Catholics, Dr Noel Treanor.
The bishop was critical about the PSNI's inability last Saturday to enforce the Parades Commission's ruling on bands and sectarian songs outside St Patrick's.
The police have vowed to arrest, question and possibly charge those seen openly defying the law last weekend. Yet even if they start to pursue those who broke the ban the next question is how they will react to events on the ground in a month's time?
If for instance the Parades Commission imposed another vow of silence as bands passed by St Patrick's, will the PSNI execute that ruling on the streets? Furthermore, just imagine if the Commission decided to re-route altogether Orangemen and loyalist marchers away from Donegall Street, opting instead for the parade to file into Belfast city centre down the Shankill Road. Would this result in a major stand-off security headache for the PSNI?
The final group under stress thanks to the emergence of this new flashpoint are the loyalists themselves, or to be more specific, the loyalist terrorist groups such as the Ulster Volunteer Force and the Ulster Defence Association.
These are organisations officially committed not only to ceasefires but to decommissioning their weapons and their military-style structures. In past marching disputes such as Drumcree there is clear evidence that most (but not all) mainstream loyalist groups actually tried to lower tensions along sectarian interfaces and even eventually co-operated with republicans to keep the peace at some of the peace lines.
Is it really in the interests of the UVF and UDA leadership's to allow a spontaneous upsurge in violence from its grassroots that could in a worst-case scenario unravel everything they sought to achieve since the 1994 ceasefires?
The date of 29 September 2012 could prove to be a pivotal one in 21st century Northern Ireland. It could turn out to be the day the power-sharing politicians on the big hill at Stormont and the community activists on the streets of working-class Belfast demonstrated their ability to defuse a dispute that has deep roots in the sectarian ravaged history of their city. Or it could be the day on which the contradictions between co-operation in politics and confrontation between still rival communities is laid bare for the entire world to see.