The Irish News yesterday carried more detail on the Billy Mawhinney story: the senior Orangeman who was suspended from his job as doorman at Stormont after remarks made on Spotlight last week. It stems from a longer interview with a local tv station:
Last night [Friday], community television station Northern Visions broadcast an interview with Mr Mawhinney in which he appeared to signal that the order would take to the streets to march without first seeking the permission of the Parades Commission.
He said the commission was “a finished item as far as we’re concerned” and members would not “fill in any more forms” for it, but might instead just go ahead and march – “next week, next month or next year”.
He went on to say that he was “unable to condemn” the violence following last month’s Whiterock parade. “The loyalist response was proportionate to the police assault on the loyalist community,” he said. It was not clear last night if the interview had been recorded before or after Mr Mawhinney’s suspension.
Mick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty