Loyalist marching season gets off to peaceful start

Queensway Flute Band in Belfast yesterday.
Photograph: Kelvin Boyes

THE OPENING of the North's marching season passed off quietly yesterday, raising hopes that the summer parades will prove peaceful.

There was some concern about a feeder Apprentice Boys parade by shops in Ardoyne, north Belfast - the scene of trouble in some previous years - but that parade concluded without incident yesterday morning.

About 20 members of the Apprentice Boys led by one band marched down Crumlin Road, which skirts Ardoyne. They observed a Parades Commission ruling that only a hymn be played by the band as they passed along the controversial section of the route. About 24 nationalists staged a protest against the parade. The PSNI maintained a discreet presence to ensure there was no trouble.

The Apprentice Boys then travelled to Richhill, Co Armagh, for the main Apprentice Boys demonstration yesterday.

Parades Commission chairman Roger Poole, speaking ahead of yesterday's parades, hoped that Easter would set a positive tone for the rest of the marching season.

Meanwhile, police came under petrol bomb attack in Derry yesterday following a dissident republican parade. More than 70 people launched what the PSNI described as a "sustained attack" on officers. Two youths were arrested and more than 40 petrol bombs recovered. There were no reports of injuries.

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times