Apprentice Boys accept ban on march in Lower Ormeau area

The Ormeau Road Apprentice Boys club has accepted the Parades Commission's ban on the first controversial parade of the marching…

The Ormeau Road Apprentice Boys club has accepted the Parades Commission's ban on the first controversial parade of the marching season through the Lower Ormeau.

Mr Cyril Jones, secretary of the organisation's Belfast committee, said the Walker Apprentice Boys had decided not to march on Easter Monday because of the sensitivity of the peace process at the moment.

He said the club had "never given aggravation to anyone. I defy the Lower Ormeau Concerned Community to show that the club gave them any trouble." The club consisted of only 22 men, and its tradition was to march early in the morning past the Catholic Lower Ormeau with a 25-strong band with no music or Union flags, he said.

He said that on Monday they would walk to the Ormeau Bridge and hand in a letter of protest to the police there, before taking a bus to the city centre where they would join other Apprentice Boys clubs and travel to the organisation's main demonstration at Ballymena, Co Antrim.

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The Lower Ormeau Concerned Community organisation has already said it does not plan to mount a counter-demonstration. Mr Jones appealed to loyalists not to protest either.

He said it was too early to say whether the next controversial Apprentice Boys parade in August would pass through the Lower Ormeau.