The Five Demands

SF call for parade re-routing (UTV)
Sinn Féin has called on the Orange Order to re-route parades away from St Patrick’s Church in Belfast for the rest of the marching season.
It comes after trouble flared outside the Catholic Church over the weekend in the wake of a Royal Black Institution march, which broke Parades Commission rulings.
Bands are due to pass through Donegall Street again next month on their way to Stormont as part of Covenant Day celebrations.
West Belfast MP Paul Maskey said the Order should “reflect on the disgraceful scenes” from Saturday and “take the heat out of the situation” by changing their parade route.
He said: “The sectarian behaviour displayed on Saturday outside St Patrick’s is as clear a demonstration of what is wrong with parading in north Belfast as you are likely to see.
“Let people be very clear, these parades are a joint enterprise between the loyal orders and loyalist paramilitaries and in particular the UVF.
“Saturday shows they cannot be trusted to parade either lawfully or respectfully. They need to take the heat out of this situation and they need to reroute themselves away from Donegal Street and St. Patrick’s church for the remainder of the marching season.”
The violence erupted outside the church after many bands defied a Parades Commission determination by playing music.
The Young Conway Volunteers took part in the march despite being prohibited, after they were filmed playing contentious music outside the same church earlier this year.
A female PSNI officer was taken to hospital and treated for minor head injuries as police
in riot gear held back protesters and supporters who threw bottles and stones.
Peter Osborne from the Parades Commission told UTV the time has come for the issue to be devolved to Stormont and for local politicians to take charge.
He said: “I think it’s time for local politicians to take ownership and responsibility of the parading issues and that will reflect the degree of maturity within our political setup at the minute.
“That accountability, appointment of the commission, should rest with local politicians because that will increase ownership and responsibility for the structures and decision making. It’s just something naturally right- the next natural step of what should happen.”
However UUP leader Mike Nesbitt said the “growing tension over parading” shows that Northern Ireland’s leaders have failed to agree a path to a shared future.
He said: “We are 18 years on from the ceasefires and 14 from the Good Friday Agreement.
“These events created a space for us to agree a way forward for Northern Ireland which was inclusive and respectful of all beliefs and cultures.
“The current discontent around parading in NI is a symptom of a deeper problem. We cannot continue to lurch from one crisis to the next; the problems that continue to arise over parading are clear evidence that we need a real effort to deal with it, not more sound bites.
“I would like to extend an invite to the leaders of the four main churches and the Loyal Orders to meet with the Ulster Unionist Party to work out the best way forward.”