LOYALISTS have scrapped a contentious annual parade through a mixed area of south Belfast that honoured notorious UDA men linked to numerous Troubles murders.
For the past four years, a march has been held in the Ormeau Road area to coincide with the anniversary of the killing of Joe Bratty and Raymond Elder.
The pair were linked to a gun attack on Sean Graham bookmakers along the same street in 1992 in which five Catholics were killed.
Bratty and Elder were shot dead by the Provisional IRA on Ormeau Road on July 31 1994.
The parade was usually held on the Friday closest to the anniversary of their deaths, but it appears that no such parade has been planned for this year.
A Parades Commission spokesman said it has not received any notification for a similar parade.
It comes just months after loyalists agreed a new flags protocol for Ormeau Road, limiting the number of flags and the length of time they are flown.
READ MORE:
- DUP silent on councillor Ruth Patterson attending UDA parade
- Loyalists flout rules in Belfast march glorifying UDA killers
- DUP issues statement over UDA march in mixed area of Belfast
The parade first took place in 2014 following the construction of a controversial £11,000 memorial garden at Annadale Flats funded by the Housing Executive.
The housing body said it was intended as a First World War monument, but it annually became the centrepiece of the UDA parade.
A temporary plaque bearing Bratty and Elder's names was affixed to the memorial each year as part of the march, and paramilitary flags were flown from lampposts.
The Parades Commission last year banned the march from some streets including Ormeau Road after receiving "strong representation opposed to the parade's purpose and associations with the UDA".
Organisers had said the march was to commemorate local people killed in both world wars and during the Troubles, and would involve a tribute to Bratty and Elder.
The SDLP's Claire Hanna, an MLA for South Belfast, yesterday said she was pleased the parade has not been organised again this year.
"Ormeau is a genuinely shared neighbourhood, home to all people of shades of political and none," she said.
"I'm glad the event didn't take place this year. While the area accommodates all identities, paramilitarism is not a manifestation of culture so this event was out of place, though other parades and marches passed off on the road."
Alliance councillor Emmet McDonough-Brown said: "I welcome the fact that people have shown some self-restraint around this parade.
"The parade was needlessly divisive and provocative, and did nothing to reconcile the tensions within our society.
"Everyone has the right to remember, but I think people should reflect deeply on whether parades like this are an appropriate way to remember, not least given the hurt and pain such a parade causes to the victims."
The DUP did not respond to requests for a comment.
In 2014, party councillor Luke Poots faced criticism for attending the parade.
At the time Mr Poots said he strayed into the commemoration after happening upon it while returning from a church service.
Last year, the DUP initially remained silent when asked about the parade, but later issued a statement saying it "condemns all those who cling to criminality and violence".
In May this year, DUP South Belfast MLA Christopher Stalford announced a new flags protocol had been agreed for the Ballynafeigh area including Ormeau Road.
No paramilitary-linked flags are to be flown and only the union flag and Ulster banner are displayed under the arrangement.
It also seeks to restrict the flying of flags to the period from mid-June to early September, and only one per lamppost.
At the time Mr Stalford said those behind the arrangement were "trying to improve community relations".
