Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Order of the day..
Crowds across Ulster enjoy peaceful 12th
THOUSANDS of Orange Order members took to the streets yesterday to celebrate the main date in the marching season.
Bands and loyal order lodges paraded through streets across the country before congregating at fields to hear speeches and prayers delivered by senior Orangemen.
The Twelfth of July events mark the anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, when Protestant King William defeated Catholic King James II in Co Meath. And the leader of the Orange Order used the occasion to call for unionist politics to be “re-energised” in the event of a General Election.
Grand Master Edward Stevenson said political influence must be maximised to meet the challenges ahead.
He added: “If we are to indeed see a General Election in the next year there is a real challenge for unionism as a whole in ensuring that we re-engage with non-voters and to re-energise unionist politics as an electoral force with a strong, attractive message.
“This institution has played an important role in the elections of past generations and we must be willing to go the extra mile to help political unionism in the challenges ahead.
“We are a broad church in terms of political views. However, one thing all our members can agree on is that our interests are best served as citizens of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.”
The longest parade was in Belfast, where hundreds of Orange lodge members, accompanied by about 60 bands, made their way through the city towards the demonstration field in the south of the city. Union flag-waving supporters lined sections of the route to cheer them on.
Last night the PSNI confirmed there had been eight arrests at the parades.
Assistant Chief Constable Mark Hamilton said: “I am pleased that today has passed without major incident.
“I would like to thank and acknowledge the hard work of the organisers of events, community leaders, our partners and my officers and staff, who helped make this a safe and enjoyable day for many. We dealt with a number of minor incidents throughout the day and made a number of arrests but these did not detract from what was a peaceful day.
“We are aware of some alleged breaches of parade determinations and these will be investigated accordingly.”
Over the years there have been many volatile flashpoints on the Twelfth involving Orange lodges and nationalist residents.
The best-known include the Garvaghy Road/drumcree dispute in Portadown, Co Armagh, the Ormeau