Theresa Villiers: “It is in the interests of everyone affected… that a way forward is found towards a local resolution.”

As the BBC’s Mark Devenport reports, the Northern Ireland Secretary of State, Theresa Villiers, has proposed that a panel of “experts” be appointed with the objective of mediating “an agreed accommodation between local people in respect of Loyal Order parades in the Twaddell and Ardoyne areas of north Belfast”. The official NIO statement includes the terms of reference, key principles, and the proposed structure of the panel and its timescale. Terms of reference In order to mediate an agreed accommodation between local …

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The problem is not a weak parades commission, it’s our politics..

Fascinating. Liam Clarke nails something vital here: ….the only way through the marching season is for Parades Commission decisions to be honoured and enforced by the police. That is the message we need from politicians and, if they don’t like the situation, the answer is in their own hands. They have spent years trying to agree an alternative means of regulating the very small number of disputed parades which blight each summer here. Their failure is the backdrop to the …

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No #Twaddell from Parades Commission

The Parades Commission has given its response to the ‘Twaddell Initiative‘ put forward by Unionists and the Orders. Not only does it say No, but it publicly deconstructs how it was first made aware of proposal by the media and dismissed the grounds for a late application, the failure to abide by its ruling for the 12th July parade and continued breaches of its determinations. It was abundantly plain that that would be the case (although there is still Nigel …

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More #Twaddell: DUP, dupes and duplicity.

The onus is now upon nationalism to show leadership and to respond positively to this genuine attempt to reach accommodation. They must face down the elements in their community who wish to drag Northern Ireland back. So says DUP ‘leader’ Peter Robinson, but presumably not in reference to his party members who were advocating burning tricolours, defacing religious statues, indulging in murder fantasies, okay with assaults on the mayor or happy to be seen at UVF parades. Robinson was actually …

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Unionists begin long parades weekend by attacking PSNI

It is looking it will a long weekend. Tonight’s anti-internment march was the first of a series of parades, with the Apprentice Boys tomorrow, Belfast District No 4 at Ardoyne and the Tyrone Volunteer Commemoration on Sunday. Tonight’s march was preceded by unionist loyalist protestors attacking police in Belfast city centre before the march even arrived (making the predictable spin more difficult since the republican march was nowhere in sight at the time). The march was routed away from Royal …

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Belfast No 3 District signals #Ardoyne as new Drumcree

There was a strong hint today that unionism is heading towards a Drumcree-style approach at Ardoyne. After the announcement from the Parades Commission that Belfast No 2 District will also be restricted from parading the section of the Crumlin Road from Woodvale to Hesketh Road this Saturday, Belfast No 3 District have applied to march the same route on 3rd August. If you want a quick view of the Drumcree approach, see Ryan’s take on it here: Is this the …

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Belfast No 2 District wants to try again: #Ardoyne

Belfast No. 2 District have now applied to parade along the same section that they walked last Friday morning, but were restricted from in the evening. Presumably, they now feel suitably fortified with the Assembly’s motion on the Parade’s Commission’s ‘illogical determination’ in their hip pocket, despite the fact that, due to AK47 NI21 not supporting the motion, it didn’t even win the support of all unionists. Since it was Belfast No.2 District that were involved last Friday, I am sure the Parades Commission …

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Time for the Orange and the DUP to take a one way bet on the future?

I’m not sure I agree that Chris’s account of this Twelfth is quite as comprehensive as John implies, but it does highlight why defending the loyal orders right to march on the public highway might be such a hard sell. It’s nine years since Gerry Kelly had his arm broken defending a British soldier from a republican mob in Ardoyne. The tensions in north Belfast each summer are palpable. And it is hardly surprising. The area suffers a heady mix …

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Has the underplating of local power shifted through the pre 12th talks over Ardoyne?

I think Brian Rowan is on to something potentially significant here: In 2013 Ardoyne is not a new headline or a new problem. It has been with us for years, not something that grew out of the story of the dissidents. I reported from there when plastic bullets were fired as if they were two a penny and when police officers on the frontline fell under a barrage of bricks, bottles, petrol bombs and anything else the crowd could get …

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Republican dissidents try to kill police officers in Ardoyne…

And, just to complicate matters (and in case you had the impression that it was only the Orange bringing mayhem to the streets of north Belfast)… With tensions building ahead of the most controversial parade of the Orange Order marching season, due to go through Ardoyne in north Belfast on Friday, republican dissidents have tried to kill police officers in a bomb attack in the area. It has emerged that the republicans attempted to lure a police patrol into Ardoyne …

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2013 contingency plan: let’s get all Belfast lodges to go to #Ardoyne

The Irish News is reporting  that the Orange Order may put a contingency plan in place that would see all lodges in Belfast take a return route that takes them to the restricted section at Ardoyne (via paywall). According to the Irish News: It is believed they [the Orange Order] are considering asking Orangemen to march home from the field along with the three north Belfast lodges banned from walking the Crumlin Road. With perhaps little sense of irony the Grand Lodge …

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And after the Ardoyne parade back up to Stormont, again…

Well given the passion (and the brutality of that DUP attack) on Monday… the DUP have decided to call everyone back into Stormont on Tuesday, 16 July 2013… A spokeswoman for the assembly said: “There will be an additional plenary sitting of the Northern Ireland assembly on Tuesday, 16 July 2013 after the Speaker received a valid request to recall the assembly. “Plenary will begin at 12 noon and will discuss a motion in respect of the impact of a determination …

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First Minister issues warning over alleged political connection to punishment shooting…

There’s little to say about this just yet other than to note that the return of punishment shootings in Belfast is hardly a sign of health in the so called peace process. A returning to old ways? The fact that the PSNI are questioning Sean Kelly, the man convicted of the Shankill bomb (and released on licence), will not do much for public confidence either. Indeed, it has already prompted the First Minister to issue the following statement: “The family …

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What’s eating Ardoyne: Slugger’s first public Google+ discussion

As luck would have it, Slugger was down for a few hours yesterday, just as we were recording our first Google Plus Hangout on Air over lunch time… A second blow was not getting Chris Donnelly in to the discussion (tech hitches meant he couldn’t get in on time), so as a result there’s an important Republican perspective missing from this discussion… One of the technical hitches that occurred during the recording is that because one of the silent participants …

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Slugger online debate: What’s eating Ardoyne (take two)…

This is partly a reminder of tomorrow’s lunch time discussion, and partly an attempt to reset the thread that from the first comment actually went on to discuss a video taken outside St Patrick’s church in Donegall Street where (depending on who’s version of the truth you choose) a marching band chose play an old American classic, or The Famine Song. Either way, the video demonstrates just how intense the feelings are around this time of year (the ‘who’ of …

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Orders find solution to #Twelfth restrictions at #Ardoyne

The optics of this are pretty ridiculous. The BBC are reporting the solution to the restriction on passing Ardoyne by 4 pm as: Members of three Orange lodges will be ferried across Belfast by bus to meet a 16:00 BST deadline for passing the flashpoint Catholic area of Ardoyne. Orangemen say it’s a peaceful solution to allow them to complete their return parade from the main celebrations to their Orange halls in north Belfast. Details have not yet been announced …

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Parading issues require real political solutions not just an ad hoc sticking plaster…

So it’s the eleventh of July. And nearly all politician of all political stripes are making hay over who’s to blame for any impending trouble in Ardoyne (in the last few years the rioters have been nationalist, and they’ve not waited for those Orange feet to come anywhere near before venting their hatred for ‘the other tradition’. But the Belfast Telegraph print edition, there’s a timely editorial that notes that that for all the Morcombe and Wise performance of blissful …

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Platform proceedings: the Orders in their own words

With the County Grand Lodge considering a judicial review of the Parades Commission ruling, a spokesman for the County Grand Lodge of Belfast has said: In addition to the normal denials of rights and freedoms that the Parades Commission regularly impose, this impossible demand would deny these brethren the opportunity to attend the platform proceedings, including the religious service at Barnett Demesne… A recurring contradiction in the Orders’ position is in selectively citing examples of quiet country parades while demanding …

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“They are conversations – they are not negotiations, they are not mediation…”

With the draconian approach of the elected representatives in Sinn Féin and the DUP abandoned, and long-forgotten, the extant Parades Commission have appointed a trio of intermediaries to have ‘conversations’ with unidentified others in the Ardoyne area of north Belfast.  From the BBC report Lord Alderdice is involved in the initiative, along with the Holy Cross priest Father Gary Donegan and the former Presbyterian Moderator, the Reverend Norman Hamilton. He admits there is no guarantee of success. Dr Hamilton said: “The Parades …

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“encouraged by a small number of people opposed to the peace process…”

Twenty-six people were arrested during last night’s rioting in nationalist areas of north and south Belfast and Londonderry.  There were also reports of public disorder in Armagh, and the Dunclug estate in Ballymena.  RTÉ lists Strabane, Newry, Ballymena and Armagh city, as well as Belfast and Londonderry. In Londonderry, we are told Sinn Féin Foyle MLA Martina Anderson said the violence was “orchestrated” and described it as “an orgy of destruction”. “Let’s be clear the vandalism and wanton destruction in …

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