I’m a bit pressed for time today, so I haven’t got time to do justice to the commentary on the Short Strand PSNI judgement in the Supreme Court. So I’m going to ask those of you with better legal training that me to decipher the concluding passage of the Judgement for me:
I would reverse the decision of the Court of Appeal and make a declaration that, in their handling of the flags protest in Belfast during the months of December and January, PSNI misconstrued their legal powers to stop parades passing through or adjacent to the Short Strand area.
It seems a strangely esoteric point. Critically, will it have a proper real world effect on the future policing of unnotified parades in Northern Ireland?
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
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