Fears of violence at republican march
By Deborah McAleese
newsdesk@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
20 July 2005
THE Parades Commission is set to make a ruling next week on a controversial republican parade in Ballymena which has sparked warnings of violence.
Unionists have warned that if the parade is given the go-ahead there could be “open violence” on the streets.
Around 650 participants are expected to take part in the parade, which has been organised by the William Orr Commemoration Committee in memory of the United Irishman.
If given the go-ahead it would reportedly be the first ever republican parade in the town.
The Parades Commission is expected to consider the application for the August 9 parade next Wednesday.
PSNI chiefs were warned by a DUP delegation the peace in the town will be “shattered” if republicans are allowed to hold the parade.
Ian Paisley Jnr said the proposal is nothing more than an attempt to “stoke up” tensions in the town.
He warned that if republicans attempt to provoke this tension it will end in “calamity” for someone who will be made a victim of a criminal attack.
Mr Paisley added: “Now we have a real concern that such a parade will lead to open violence in our normally peaceful town.”
Sinn Fein recently had its first ever representative elected to Ballymena Borough Council.
Police patrolled Ballymena Town Hall when 51 year-old Monica Digney attended her first council meeting.
Sectarian tensions in the mainly Protestant town were heightened recently following an attack on the Catholic Harryville Church, which has been the scene of loyalist pickets in previous years.
In the 1990s protesters attempted to stop worshippers getting to the church.
