SINN FÉIN MLA Deirdre Hargey has called on the Parades Commission to ‘make the right decision’ and maintain restrictions on a proposed loyalist parade in South Belfast.
The Belfast Walker Club has submitted an annual proposal to march from Ballynafeigh Orange Hall to Donegall Pass via the Ormeau Bridge and lower Ormeau Road this November.
Since 1999, the parade has been restricted from crossing the bridge and entering a section of the road where five Catholic civilians were shot to death by loyalist paramilitaries in a 1992 attack on a bookmakers.
Ms Hargey said she had been speaking to concerned residents in the wake of the recent decision to permit the Drumcree parade along Garvaghy Road, a move later overruled by the Secretary of State.
“There can be no unwanted loyal order march down the Lower Ormeau Road,” she said.
“The people of the Lower Ormeau Road have lived peacefully for 27 years and they deserve to continue doing so.
“The sectarianism, harassment, violence and murder visited upon the Lower Ormeau community cannot and will not be allowed to happen again.
“The 1992 Sean Graham bookies’ massacre and the subsequent displays at parades have left deep and painful wounds that must not be reopened.
‘No going back to the past’
“Only recently the memorial to those murdered was attacked and scenes from the massacre were printed on a mural in East Belfast. Tensions are incredibly high and the community is concerned.
“The Parades Commission must make the right decision and maintain the existing restriction on this march, ensuring the community’s concerns are heard and the route remains restricted.
“Sinn Féin will continue to fully support the Lower Ormeau community.
“They deserve to live in peace and there will be no going back to the past.”
The Belfast Walker Club parade has not been permitted to cross the Ormeau Bridge and the ensuing section of the lower Ormeau Road since 1997.
Last year’s determination once again permitted the parade with restrictions on marching along the stretch of road between Ormeau Bridge and Havelock Bridge.
The ruling said the Commission had cause to believe that if the parade marched the entire route, ‘there will be an adverse effect on community relations and a potential for public disorder’.
“The conditions imposed are necessary, proportionate and fair in respect of this parade,” it added.
Last month, the Parades Commission ruled that the Drumcree parade could march along the Garvaghy Road for the first time since 1997.
After almost two weeks of protests opposed to the parade and failed talks to find a solution, the Commission’s decision was overruled by Secretary of State Chris Bryant.
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