A north Belfast residents’ group is not expected to hold a protest after the Parades Commission gave permission for an Orange Order march to pass through a nationalist district.
The parade, organised by The Ligoniel Combine to mark Orange Heritage Week, will see up to 150 participants and one band to pass through the Ardoyne area on Saturday morning.
The procession, which will include three orange lodges, will leave the Woodvale area around 9am before making its way to Ligoniel Orange Hall.
Restrictions placed on the procession include a ban on supporters and that no music or drumbeats are permitted to be played as it passes Ardoyne shops.
It has now emerged that two nationalist residents’ groups are divided on how to respond.
In June both Greater Ardoyne Residents Collective (GARC) Crumlin Ardoyne Residents Association (CARA) both said they intended to oppose a proposed Orange Order parade through the area, which was later banned by the Parades Commission.
Sources close to Greater Ardoyne Residents Collective (Garc) say it does not intend to hold a protest this weekend but will instead maintain a policy of observing parades, which has been ongoing since 2016.
Another residents’ group, Crumlin Ardoyne Residents Association (CARA) has said that it will hold a protest, with up to 100 people expected to take part.
Violence has erupted in the past after Twelfth of July parades were blocked from passing through the area, resulting in a loyalist protest camp being set up in Twaddell Avenue in 2013.
In 2016 an agreement saw a voluntary moratorium placed on future return parades, and as a result, the 2017 march took place without protest from Ardoyne residents for the first time in almost two decades.
It has been reported that Saturday’s parade is not part of the 2016 agreement, which allows five morning parades to take place each year.
Concerns were raised in June after members of the Orange Order applied for a return parade through Ardoyne.
At time GARC has said it would hold a “counter march” if the controversial parade was given the greenlight.
In its representations to the Parades Commission CARA said they were opposed to this weekend’s parade and that it was in breach of the 2016 agreement.
They added that if the parade goes ahead “it could result in real difficulties”.
In its determination the Parades Commission said it has “not received any evidence that, if the parade were to proceed, it would result in disorder or any significant disruption to the life of the community”.
“It received some evidence that it may result in damage to community relations, but this is not uncontested,” it added.
