The above photo is taken from the New Lodge Facebook page galleries which includes a photo gallery of the build-up to yesterdays Republican Network for Unity’s Henry Joy McCracken commemoration at the cemetery in Henry Place. Whilst the RNU event had been processed via an application to the Parades Commission (and not classified as sensitive), the loyalist protest that developed outside the Orange Orders Clifton Street building was not. The gallery includes some shots of the crowd beginning to gather outside the Orange Hall and several shots of the assembled photographers on the balcony taking photographs of the parade as it passed into Henry Place.
I am not going to pretend I can name the figures on the viewing platform but most commentators are identifying them as being associated with the UVF (e.g. see Ardoyne Republicans blog). If that is the case, any Orange Order clarification on the matter would be interesting (to say the least). As far as I can tell, the camera location for much of the footage Mick has blogged was shot from in front of the Orange Hall.
The loyalist protest was neither spontaneous, as it was trailed across social media over the weekend, nor legal, as there was no application to the Parades Commission. As I’ve already pointed out, I suspect this is going to continue to brew during September.
Whatever happens, the DPP is going to be busy.
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