Background
to the
Research
- Parades are a predominant
feature of life in NI and, during 1985/86 in Portadown, 'the right to
march' sparked a series of riots and incidents that had major repercussions
for the local Protestant and Catholic communities, the relationship
between the police and the local community, and for NI as a whole. This
report explores the nature of the local conflict concerning parades
in Portadown and sets it in its broader historical and political context.
Research
Approach
- In order to examine the issues, the authors
drew on newspapers, publications by the Orange Order, the Drumcree Faith
and Justice Group and paramilitary organisations. A small number of
informal interviews were carried out with some of the interested parties.
Main Findings
Portadown and its Orange Tradition
- Portadown has a population of 30,000, the
town is relatively prosperous with lower levels of unemployment than
the adjoining areas of Lurgan and Craigavon. Around 30% of the population
is Catholic and attempts to have integrated housing estates in the area
have failed.
- Obins Street (part of which is known as
the Tunnel) and the housing estates of Ballyoran and Churchill Park
- areas that lie adjacent to the town centre - are predominantly Catholic.
The loyalist Park estate is situated between Churchill Park and the
town centre.
- The origins of Portadown are found in
the plantation, stories of the massacre of Protestants in Portadown
in 1641 are commemorated. The town is sited near to where the Orange
Order was founded. There are 3 Orange Halls within the Portadown area
and 3 parades and their bands have regularly marched through the tunnel
area, down Obins Street to Drumcree Church and returned via the Garvaghy
Road. Conflict with regard to parades in Portadown goes back to at least
the late 19th century.
Portadown 1985/1986
- Increased tension and violence surrounding
parades in Portadown during the mid-1980s needs to be set in the wider
social and political context. After the hunger strikes in the early
1980s support for Sinn Fein grew, whilst support for the SDLP began
to diminish. The signing of the Anglo-Irish Agreement in the mid-1980s
increased unease amongst unionists. The NI Assembly established in 1982
had few powers and was periodically boycotted by the SDLP and the UUP.
Unemployment in the province was high and the economy faltering.
- Parades in Portadown during 1985/6 were
characterised by a determination by Orangemen to parade along their
traditional routes and protests by local nationalists to those parades
that encroached on their areas. The police intervened at various parades
to quell riots and attempted to either permit marching taking a stated
route or to re-route parades. Local disputes concerning parades attracted
protesters from outside the area and influenced the instigation of disputes
in other areas.
- The parades issues rose steadily up the
political agenda and became an important topic in discussion between
the various NI political parties and the British and Irish governments.
Politicians on both sides contended that there was political interference
in the policing of parades and sought to use the parades issues in a
variety of ways to bolster their political agenda. In relation to nationalists
and Unionists, parades became a focal point for wider grievances concerning
the nature of the NI state and their relationship with that state.
- 'Blood and thunder bands' provided an
outlet for young (frequently unemployed) Protestants who felt alienated
from the political process and from traditionalists within the Orange
Order. The police became increasingly concerned with the role of the
'blood and thunder' bands, especially when officials of the loyal institutions
appeared not to be able to exercise a degree of control over the members
of such bands.
- The response of the mainstream political
parties in relation to parades is complex. Broadly speaking the UUP,
with its institutional links to the Orange Institution and which drew
much of its political support from members of the Orange lodgers, was
opposed to re-routing but respectful of the role of the police. The
DUP were more likely to draw their support from members of the blood
and thunder bands and were also opposed to re-routing but were critical
of the role of the government and the police.
- Parades became the focal point of discontent
concerning the perception that policies in NI were being decided by
the London and Dublin governments rather than in NI. In this context,
parades were not re-enactment's of events in the past, rather they were
dynamic processes used as a cultural resource and indicated economic,
political and cultural change.
- Residents in nationalist areas view parades
as triumphalist and threatening, where Orangemen see the re-routing
of parades as a attack on Protestantism itself. Whilst Twelfth parades
have changed over time, without a broader political resolution, it seems
unlikely that any compromise can be reached between nationalists and
unionists in relation to this issue.
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