ORANGE WALK’S NO TO CHANGE OF ROUTE
Council will be asked to rule on parade after attack on priest
COUNCILLORS will be asked to re-route an Orange Order parade this weekend after organisers failed to.
The Orange Order agreed to postpone a previous parade after a priest was attacked outside a church. It was rescheduled to take place on Saturday but no new route has been agreed.
Councillors will now be asked to impose a route that does not include the church.
THE ORANGE Order has refused to re-route a parade away from the church where a priest was allegedly attacked and faces having a new route imposed on it.
Following the incident in July outside St Alphonsus’ Church in Calton, the Orange Order agreed with the city council to postpone the next march that was due to pass the church last month.
The march was re-scheduled to take place this Saturday but the organisers have failed to agree a route with the council.
The council asked for it to be re-routed to avoid going past St Alphonsus’ but the Orange Order refused and wanted to parade past the church.
Now councillors on a specially convened Public Processions Committee will be asked to impose a route which will not include St Alphonsus’, where Canon Tom White was allegedly lunged at by a man with a baton and shouted abuse at by followers of the march in July.
Councillors are being asked to impose conditions on the march by Orange and Purple District 37. A senior council source said: “This is a reasonable request and isn’t about creating ‘no-go’ areas. It’s about exercising some responsibility in relation to the specific tensions which exist here following last month’s incident at St Alphonsus’. Other parading groups have displayed it, so why can’t this Orange lodge? What the area, indeed the city, needs is some breathing space, a period of calm for all partners to honestly discuss the impact of all parades in the city, and how to move forward constructively in a way which protects the right to parade, alongside the rights of local communities too.”
While there are no services at the church on a Saturday, it is open to parishioners during the day and Police Scotland had concerns over public safety if the march passed the church.
A spokesman said: “Glasgow City Council has been unable to reach agreement with Orange and Purple District 37 on a procession due to take place this Saturday. Officers asked the organiser to change their proposed route to take the procession away from St Alphonsus’ church, due to community concerns and police advice regarding the potential for disorder, but this request was refused.
“As a result, a meeting of the Public Processions Committee has been called to rule on the proposed march. A report by officials recommends that members re-route the procession away from St Alphonsus’.
The Grand Orange Lodge of Scotland has been contacted for comment.