The orange order has put in over 1300 applications to the parades commission to finish their parade. This is approx. an application a week and up to now they have been denied. I'm not an orange man but I can see that for 28 years the OO obeyed the parades commissions rulings.
Then, the parades commission rule that they can walk albeit with restrictions. These restrictions allowed for 35 men, no bands, no supporters and they had to walk at 8am last Sunday morning.
Before coming to the hypocrisy shown by our political leaders let's take a look at what this really is.
The orange men who want to walk this road believe they have not finished a parade from 1998 and just want to be allowed to walk it. Most of these orange men are actually friends and neighbours of the Garvaghy Road residents. I have heard 3 residents of the G. Road state that they have no bones with the march. On television one resident stated that he personally knows most of the orangemen and he had zero issues with them walking at 8am.
It should not be misunderstood that most of the actual residents of the G. Road and the OO get along with each other perfectly well, and I believe this is the main issue. Over the past 28 years our two communities have realised that they have more in common with each other than they do differences.
So, roll in the politicians. Posts put on social media from Sinn Fein calling on people to "mobilise" both in Portadown and other areas. What did these politicians mean by "mobilise"? This is a military term which means to gather the troops. However, it can also just mean to gather together which is what I am sure our politicians meant 🤔.
I would like to pose a question:
When a man was almost beheaded in our streets a few months ago these same politicians called for everyone to stay indoors and stay calm. Why was there no call to "mobilise" then, especially when our nation is ACTUALLY being invaded?
Also, when the horrific attempted beheading happened both nationalists and loyalists joined together in solidarity at wanting our country back. We may have our issues between each other but these issues are secondary when it comes to the invasion of our wee country by fighting age men who don't respect our culture.
However, it looks to me that when we all came together the politicians on both sides of the border must have had a meeting and decided that they couldn't have us all getting along so they needed an issue to divide us again. Especially with an election coming up.
I was at the G. Road during the week. There was large coaches parked and after talking to some of the crowd the buses had come down from Derry. There was also buses from other areas. These were all men who had been brought in to "protest"
What I would like to know is how did they get bus loads of people to turn up so quickly? Was this all planned ahead of time through back room meetings on how to divide us again?
There was also two cars parked on the road, both placed there by the protesters and both cars had been covered in petrol. What were these cars for? Who gave the order to put them in the middle of the road and who ordered they be covered in petrol?
The only people shouting about the G. Road are the politicians. The political fall out has been typical of Northern Irish politics and, once again, we are becoming a divided society. Coming up to an election it helps the politicians to keep us divided so we vote either orange or green next year, as, God forbid, some of us may vote for the best candidate for their area despite what party they belong to!
The best outcome here is for all the protesters from outside Portadown to go home. Then, let the ACTUAL residents have some meetings with the OO. Let them come to an agreement between themselves, without political or other influence & then once a compromise has been decided between the RESIDENTS, submit the plan to the PC, get on with whatever they decide and then delegate the whole thing to history for good.