Nationalists in Belfast tonight condemned a decision to allow the Apprentice Boys to march down the lower Ormeau Road on Saturday. The Parade Commission chairman Alistair Graham said the march was being allowed because there had been real dialogue between the Apprentice Boys and the Lower Ormeau Concerned Community. But residents' spokesman John Gormley said the decision was unjust, and residents would demonstrate their opposition in a determined and effective but peaceful way. Local Sinn Féin Councillor Sean Hayes described the ruling as "outrageous and devoid of logic".
Apprentice Boys spokesman Tommy Cheevers said he was disappointed at the residents' reaction. He warned that a peaceful protest was not necessarily a lawful one if nationalists tried to block the road. Earlier, the Apprentice Boys had said that they would act within the law no matter what the Commission decided. A spokesman said he hoped that Nationalist residents of the Lower Ormeau Road would give the same undertaking. However a spokesperson for Lower Ormeau Concerned Community said the Apprentice Boys' statement was meaningless unless they tried to find a local resolution to the dispute.
