SUNG ON THE 12TH OF JULY AT A LOYALIST BAND PARADE IN BELFAST 2022.
The hatred and sectarianism is plain for everyone to see. The loyalist bands are well out of order and completely out of control. Who can be held accountable for these bands and is funds from Stormont being used to teach them this sectarian hatred?
Category: REROUTE THE FLUTE
Orange Order parade gets re-routed away from Belfast city interface
The re-routing an Orange parade in east Belfast has been branded an “offensive denial of rights” by the event organisers.
Responding to the Parades Commission determination, the Ravenhill Road Volunteers lodge said the ban on the small parade passing along the Albertbridge and Ravenhill Roads on Saturday afternoon has “caused much anger” within the east Belfast community.
The one-off parade had been organised to unfurl and dedicate a new banner which commemorates the lodge’s origins in the ‘old Lagan Village’ area.
However, the Parades Commission has ruled out a route past the Mountpottinger interface, and along a section of the Ravenhill Road at peak Saturday trading hours.
In a statement, the lodge said: “Ravenhill Road Volunteers LOL 580 has been denied permission to parade our new banner along the Ravenhill Road, the locality where we were formed in 1894, and as is the tradition on such occasions.
“This is an offensive denial of our right to express our religious and cultural identity. It is clear this decision is part of a strategy by the Parades Commission to have future traditional parades in east Belfast re-routed.”
The statement added: “This action has caused much anger amongst many within the east Belfast community, as the feelings, views and concerns of the Protestant community are continually ignored by the Commission. Sadly, the Commission seek to use parading legislation to punish the organisers, rather than be independent and fair adjudicators of public possessions – shame on them.”
The lodge will carry on with its plans to unfurl the banner at Ballymacarrett Orange Hall but will not parade at this time “in the interests of reducing community tensions”.
The statement goes on to say that the lodge will display it banner along the Ravenhill Road “on a date before July 1, 2020”.
• In rejecting the original proposal for the Ravenhill Road Volunteers parade, the Parades Commission determination refers to the need for “major policing operations” during the three annual Orange parades past the Mountpottinger interface.
The commission said that everyday activities of those who live, shop and trade in the area may be “disproportionately disrupted” by the Saturday afternoon timing.
It also states that no information has been provided by the organisers to explain significance of the date and time chosen, and claims it will have a potentially “destabilising effect” on community relations disproportionate to parade’s significance.
The Commission has approved an alternative route along Templemore Avenue which has been rejected.
With many thanks to the: Belfast News Letter and Mark Rainey for the original story
Loyalists sport ‘Bloody Sunday’ “No Apology, No Surrender” tops after Govan marchers urged to be ‘dignified’ in warning flyer
‘BE MINDFUL’
LOYALIST have been spotted sporting Bloody Sunday “no apology, no surrender” tops after Govan marchers were urged to be “dignified”.
The tops were seen after The Pride of Govan Flute Band urged marchers to “not give haters” any reason to “portray the P.U.L. Community in a negative way”.
The Pride of Govan Flute Band are expecting over 1,000 people to march through Glasgow this morning in their annual band parade.
But cops are fearing more secretarian violence this weekend with hundreds of Republican counter protesters set to make an appearance during the march.
Hundreds gathers for Loyalist march in Glasgow as police line city streets
In a flyer handed out to marchers this morning, the Pride of Govan Flute Band welcomed marchers to their annual parade but warned them to “be mindful following recent events”.
The flyer reads: “We would like to welcome you to our annual band parade.
“Please be mindful following recent events and negative publicity from certain parts of the media. We must stress the need for a dignified response from all taking part today, be it bandsmen or supporters.
“Please do not give the haters any cause to portray the P.U.L. Community in a negative way. Thank you for your cooperation.”
It comes as travel chaos is expected across Glasgow today after the council gave the marches the go-ahead – sparking fresh concerns over trouble.
We previously reported how The Pride of Govan Flute Band hit out at Glasgow City Council for asking them to cancel their march.
The band told how they were “disgusted” and accused the council of “scaremongering” and “trying to stir up religious hatred”.
Earlier this week, anti-sectarian campaigners called on cops to use banning orders handed out to footie yobs on violent thugs arrested at religious marches.
Last weekend saw parades being banned following shameful scenes at previous marches – as hundreds of Loyalist protesters took to George Square.
And Scots Orange Order boss Jim McHarg vowed earlier this week to “keep standing up for rights” after a “difficult but constructive” meeting with police.
With many thanks to: The Scottish Sun and Alice Walker for the original story
Man named as UVF leader ‘met police over Avoniel bonefire’
Police “engaged” with Stephen Matthews – who denies being a UVF leader – last week amid tension over a bonfire at Avoniel Leisure Centre, according to the loyalist activist Jamie Bryson.
Attempts to remove the bonfire were dropped after threats to contractors.
Police said the UVF was involved
A week-long dispute about the bonfire – built in the leisure centre car park – ended on Friday when Belfast City Council dropped its plan to clear the bonfire site.
Mr Bryson was a central figure in the row, acting as a spokesman for a group calling itself the East Belfast Cultural Collective, representing bonfire builders.
During the dispute he denied the UVF – a loyalist paramilitary group – was involved
The bonfire had been contentious because tyres had been placed on it to be burnt and it was built on council property without permission.
Bonfire builders voluntarily removed tyres after contractors acting for the council took 1,800 tyres from another bonfire nearby.
The council decided to remove the bonfire from its grounds and hundreds of people gathered at the Avoniel bonfire on Tuesday to protest against the decision.
Graffiti threats to contractors subsequently appeared on walls close to the site.
Police said they would meet council representatives to discuss a complaint about the leak of the contractors’ details.
Last week, the East Belfast MP Gavin Robinson said he believed the UVF was involved in the dispute.
‘Not in cahoots with UVF’
On Saturday, Chief Constable Simon Byrne vowed that the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) would “not tolerate” the UVF and would “take it on using all the powers”.
He also said the PSNI was “not in cahoots with the UVF, despite some of the inference”.
“He played an extremely positive role as part of the collective in ensuring we had a peaceful cultural celebration at Avoniel,” he added.
“Stephen Matthews has never been convicted of membership of any proscribed organisation.
“Stephen Matthews robustly denies being the leader of the east Belfast UVF.”
The Avoniel bonfire was lit on Thursday night – it was one of hundreds set on fire across Northern Ireland on the eve of the Twelfth of July marches.
With many thanks to: BBCNI for the original story
Orange Order claim “It’s not a good time to be a Protestant living in Glasgow’ as Orange Marches are rerouted
The organisation hit out after council chiefs agreed to divert parades away from a Catholic church where a priest was spat on.
The Orange Order has said it is being ‘discriminated’ against after marches were diverted away from a Catholic church where a priest was assaulted.
Thug Bradley Wallace, 24, was jailed for 10 months in February after spitting on Catholic priest Canon Thomas White last July, outside St Alphonsus’ Church in Calton, East End of Glasgow .
Four parades next Saturday and Sunday, including two by Orange Lodges and one by the Apprentice Boys of Derry and one by Dalmarnock No Surrender Branch Club are to be diverted to avoid St Alphonsus’ Church in London Road.
Canon White was speaking to parishioners when he was attacked by Wallace, who was jailed at Glasgow Sheriff Court after admitting assault while following the Boyne Parade.
READ MORE
Four Orange Walks in Glasgow rerouted away from Catholic church where priest spat on
Police said if the parades go ahead protests are likely and there will be “significant and disruptive impact on the life of the local community” and pressure on police resources.
The decision is the latest in a number of decisions by Glasgow City Council acting on police advice to order parades by protestant organisations be re-routed.
However, The Grand Orange Lodge of Scotland has said it is the victim of ‘anti-protestant persecution’ and ‘bigoted protesters’ and that Protestants are ‘effectively banned from walking down the street’.
A spokesman for the Grand Orange Lodge of Scotland said: “Now is not a good time to be a Protestant living in Glasgow.
“The simple act of walking down a street is now effectively banned at certain times.
“Wearing an item of clothing that identifies you as a Protestant will lead to you walking a gauntlet of bigoted protesters who object to your presence simply because you are not of their faith.
“Disappointingly, this is aided and abetted by Police Scotland and the SNP led Glasgow City Council.
“We will stand up to this bigotry, and we won’t let intolerance win. We support a Scotland of all faiths and none, where people live together in mixed communities.
“We support Scotland having religious differences, without these religious divides.
With many thanks to the: Daily Record and Niall Christie and Sarah Ward for the original story
Annual bigoted loyalist Orange Order parade re-routed – lets make Rasharkin the new Drumcree !!
The Ballymaconnelly Sons of Conquerors Flute Band annual parade will take place in the village this Friday night.
Statements have been made by the Band and Unionist and Nationalist representatives.
The Parades Commission has banned the parade from returning through the centre of Rasharkin.
The Commission had also banned Apprentice Boys from marching into Sunnyside Drive in Rasharkin last Saturday.
The band’s statement said: “On Friday 19th August 2011, Ballymaconnelly Sons of Conquerors Flute Band will hold their 31st annual competition parade and fundraiser. Once again the band has been punished by the Parades Commission for no logical reason other than to appease those who are opposed to us, and cause more division within our community by diverting the parade outside the village on its return leg.
“The notified route will therefore be assembly at Turnpike, then Church Road, Main Street, Moneyleck Road, Bann Road, Glebe Road then right onto Church Road again to dispersal. The Parades Commission has also seen fit to reduce the bands’ parade time, with starting now at 7.30pm and dispersal by 9.30pm.
“Again, this puts the band under pressure to have its parade in a dignified manner, and by reducing our time firmly shows no respect being granted to us and our culture.
“The Band has always been proactive in its stance within the community, and over the last 30 years no law has been broken in the holding of our competition parade and fundraiser, however, this cannot be said for the protest held in opposition to our parade.”
The band statement said the band and visiting bands have been “subjected to a torrent of sectarian abuse and intimidation”.
The statement added: “However, the Band does not see itself as having a political agenda, unlike those opposed to us, and does not wish to offend anyone by holding our annual night, therefore will not be made a political football, but instead run our parade to the best of our ability, as we always do.
“The Band also wants to make welcome those who come year in year out over our history to support us, but we make it very clear those who wish to inflame tensions and cause trouble to stay away.
“As with previous years the Band will have a competition on the night with the best overall band receiving the Richard Laverty Memorial Shield,” said the statement.
Rasharkin-based Sinn Féin MLA Daithí McKay said residents are “absolutely livid at the Parades Commission decision to allow 44 bands and thousands of loyalists to march through the nationalist village of Rasharkin again”.
Mr McKay said: “The Parades Commission should knock on every door in this village and ask residents whether they want this parade … its participants urinating in gardens, with verbal and physical assaults on villagers and pure sectarian nature visited upon them year after year.
“If they did they would know that their decision has given the green light to a dangerous sectarian … jamboree through this village.
“The Commission had an opportunity to place a restriction on this parade which would have outlawed the display of … flags – they failed to do that. They could have placed a restriction on 44 bands playing sectarian music past the residents protest – they didn’t.
“They could have re-routed this parade away from the centre of the village and ensured that there wasn’t an interface created on the Main Street and they ignored that request.
“This band and the parade organisers have refused to engage with the residents who live in this village for many years now. There is absolutely no onus on them to engage as long as the Commission continue to let them have their way.”
Mr McKay alleged community relations have been “destroyed” and said the situation will “only worsen” as loyalists are “allowed to take over Rasharkin” and “intimidate residents.”
North Antrim DUP MLA Mervyn Storey said: “Yet again we have seen evidence, if evidence were ever needed, for the dismantling of the Parades Commission. Having imposed a totally illogical determination with regard to the Apprentice Boys feeder parade, excluding them from Sunnyside, the Parades Commission then continued to compound this disgraceful determination by imposing a one way route for the Ballymaconnelly parade.
“When it comes to this Commission it is clear that they are more content to listen to the sectarian and anti-parade logic of the residents association rather than the facts of what it is like for the Protestant community to live and express their identity in the village.
“It is clear from this one sided determination that the Commission is more intent on placing restrictions on the parade organisers, who have never been found in breach of any determination, rather than on the protest … who have not only breached previous determinations but have acted in a way that is to say the least disgraceful. This from an unrepresentative organisation who tell us that they want to be shown respect. To date all we have seen and heard from this group and their political masters in SF is double standards and double talk.
“SF has encouraged and supported this campaign … against Ballymaconnelly Band and other parades in the village, yet trumpeting to the world that they are the champions of a shared society.
“Last week when I made representations to the Commission along with my party colleague Arlene Foster, I urged the Commission not to further compound their scandalous errors with another relating to the upcoming Ballymaconnelly parade.
“The Protestant community in Rasharkin and the majority of the Roman Catholic community want to see an end to the attitude and actions of a small and unrepresentative group who present themselves as a residents association.
“The situation in Rasharkin demonstrates that the political masters of that group can only speak with a forked tongue regarding a shared future in Northern Ireland. Rasharkin is a test case of their credentials and whether they can actually transform their rhetoric into actions on this issue. It is shameful that the failures of Republicans on this issue however are constantly rewarded by an ever compliant Parades Commission.
“However despite the challenges that such determinations and opposition brings I am glad that the parade through the village has been secured and that Ballymaconnelley will again celebrate their 31st Annual parade. I would congratulate the band on all their hard work and effort and I would appeal to those who come to support the band to do so in a way that is mindful of such difficulties and be respectful of the wishes of the band for a peaceful and enjoyable evening,” said Mr Storey.
Commenting on the Parades Commission determination on the Ballymaconnelly Parade in Rasharkin, TUV Leader and North Antrim MLA Jim Allister said: “Permitting the parade to only go through the village on its outward leg and requiring it to return by ‘the country route’ is a sop to the protestors …
“Instead of standing up to those who last year threw golf balls and organised a hoax bomb, the Commission has rewarded them. No doubt, even that will not satisfy them as their mission is to keep the parade entirely out of the village.
“It is unnecessary and wrong that the traditional route up and back down the main street is being restricted.
“It is imperative this year that the policing presence is adequate to prevent the disruptive planting of a hoax device.
“Likewise … protestors must be retained within an allocated area and not allowed to spill onto the main road whereby they bring their … antics closer to the passing parade. I have already made representations to the PSNI Commander on these issues.”
Mayor of Ballymoney, Councillor Ian Stevenson (DUP) has called for “calm and cool heads on all sides, ahead of the forthcoming Ballymaconnelly parade in Rasharkin on Friday night”.
He has called for people to be “restrained and not to react or provoke reaction and to use the lawful channels available to deal with issues of concern.”
He also stated: “It is, and has always been possible, to have a peaceful parade and protest and is my sincere hope and prayer that commonsense will prevail on the night. We only have one life and we can either make the world better or worse. It is my hope that people will step back and look at what sort of world they wish to live in. It is my prayer that all will pass peacefully, and firm belief that hatred and intolerance is never the answer, from wherever it comes.”
Ballymoney DUP councillor, John Finlay, hit out at the Parades Commission after placing restrictions on the Annual Ballymaconnelly Sons of Conquerors Band parade.
He said that this ruling prevented the band from walking its traditional route and that it would be viewed as a “reward for violence and thuggery”.
He also stated that the Parades Commission was “pandering to Republican objectives in the village which is to chase and bully Protestants’ out of Rasharkin”.
Cllr Finlay said: “I am outraged at this ruling by the Parades’ Commission who once again are set on discriminating against members of the Protestant community. This decision yet again offers further evidence that this body needs to go and would have been better going last year when the proposals were on the table.
“Once again the organisers and competitors involved in this parade, which is a highlight for many of the year, have been banned from walking their return route in their own village.
“Last year we saw Republicans engage in thuggery, violence … as band members were delayed for several hours due to a security alert, whereby a device was left at the Orange Hall.
“The Parades Commission have shown themselves to once again pander to Republican demands despite their despicable behaviour last year, as in previous years.
“The Parades Commission is meeting and seeing through the objectives of Republican hoods in the village, which is to chase and bully Protestants out of the village.
“It was only a matter of weeks ago that a Protestant resident had his car destroyed by Republicans in an arson attack. This ruling is one which discriminates and condemns Protestants’ despite them having done nothing wrong.
“This ruling, amongst many others this summer, provides clear evidence that the Parades Commission needs to go. “Last year my party put forward proposals which would have seen this unelected quango go but due to the actions of a minority these proposals were unable to be put into effect. This would have seen this body quashed and common sense prevailing.”
Comment has also been made by local representatives following the banning of an Apprentice Boys parade from Sunnyside Drive in Rasharkin on Saturday.
Daithi McKay slammed an “over the top” policing operation in Rasharkin.
Mr McKay said that local people walking from Mass were prevented from getting home by a line of police officers.
Mr McKay said: “The police put in place a completely over the top policing operation tonight and members were clearly directed to move on everybody who was on the street including those standing outside their own homes. They also refused to allow those coming from Mass to return to their homes.”
He was critical of the police operation and said it “took no account of the impact upon the local community.”
Added Mr McKay: “In one instance two middle-aged men were outside one of the mens’ home, well away from the parade, and two TSG officers flanked them in a highly intimidatory manner.”
Added Mr McKay: “The parade itself stopped outside Sunnyside Drive, a clear breach of the Parades Commission determination and this incident must be reported to the Public Prosecution Service.”
Rasharkin Sinn Fein representative Laoi Aine Ni Pheacoig added: “The police hemmed in local people in the village tonight like animals, regardless if they were young or old, or interested in the parade or not. A number of local people were shoved and manhandled by officers for no reason other than wanting to return home or call to friends or relatives.
“Make no bones about it, this is a step back for relations between the community and the police in Rasharkin. We would rather have no police in the village on days like this if they are going to act like they’re in a riot situation,”
Councillor John Finlay praised the Rasharkin Apprentice Boys of Derry (ABOD) for the “dignity displayed on their return parade in Rasharkin amidst a serious display of Republican aggression.”
He said: “Members of the Rasharkin ABOD Club were subject to jeering, intimidation, shouting and abuse on their return by members of the Republican Community.
“I praise all those members of the Rasharkin Apprentice Boys of Derry Club for the dignity shown on their return parade back from Londonderry despite being subject to a wave of Republican aggression.
“Republicans behaved appallingly by shouting, jeering and intimidating local members of the ABOD Club. Their only reason for doing this was that these men were Protestants returning home from an enjoyable day in the Maiden City.
“The intimidation on display from Republicans was no more than a sectarian act and I do hope that the Parades Commission stand up and take note of this display of sectarian aggression.
“However, sadly, Protestants know only too well that this quango wasn’t established to protect and defend their right to walk on public roads that is why it must go once and for all.” said the local DUP councillor.
With many thanks to the: Ballymoney and Moyle Times for the original story.
ORANGE BANDS/ORDER HISTORIC LINK TO GLASGOW KLAN OF THE KKK!!!
SO WHAT’S ALL THE FUSS ABOUT WITH THE TUV, DUP AND ORANGE ORDER???
LOYALIST band give prize to very young teenager in KU KLUX KLAN (KKK) uniform. The Lanarkshire Loyalist Flute Band celebrated “Hallowen/Culture party on Saturday – at premises belonging to the local council.
The photograph above from the event shows an unidentified man in white robes and a pointed hood complete with the KKK’s symbol on the chest.
He is being presented with a plaque from a woman, also unidentified, under the caption’ ” Craigneuk Imperial Ladies Flute Band”, from North Lanarkshire.
Orange bands’ historic link to Glasgow Klan
A HIGH profile Scottish loyalist who took part in Twelfth marches in Belfast in the 1930s, went on to start a branch of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) in Glasgow. Billy Fullerton led a notorious gang, the Brighton Boys, whose signature tune was The Billy Boys an infamous sectarian song which was associated with the
Orange Order and Rangers Football Club. The song which includes the line: “we’re up to our knees in Fenian blood”, was banned from football grounds by the Scottish government in 2011.
Born in Brighton area of Glasgow, Fullerton formed the Brighton Billy Boys, an anti-Catholic gang from Bridgeton Cross, in 1924. At its height, the gang had 800 members.
According to reports, Fullerton led the Brighton Purple and Crown Flute Band which marched during the Twelfth in Belfast in the 1930s.
When the Billy Boys went into decline in the late 1930s, Billy Fullerton joined Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists and went on to start a Glasgow branch of the Ku Klux Klan.
With many thanks to: The Irish News. For the story above.
“I suppose the Orange Order and the Loyal Order’s with their history going back to 1690 forgot to mention that little bit of history with the KKK”!
‘BIZARRE THAT TARGETS SHOULD RISE PREDICTABLY TO BAIT’
Irish News cartoonist Ian Knox, a long-standing friend of artist Joe McWilliams who died last month, gives his views on the controversy.
What a shame Joe couldn’t hang around long enough to enjoy the effect his great Christian Flutists had on his chosen target.
I can only look on with envy. It’s bizarre too that the Orange and TUV targets should rise in such a predictably brain-dead manner to the bait. A little checking by those protectors of public space, who love to live in the past (1690), would have shown the Orange marching bands have clearly documented links to the setting up of the first British section of the Ku Kux Klan back in Glasgow in the late 1930s or early 1940s.
The culprit was notorious black shirt strike-breaker and drummer in the Brighton Purple and Crown Orange marching Band. Billy Fullerton. Fullerton, rather than William of Orange, was a frequent Twelfth visitor to Belfast and the “Billy” of the notorious Brighton Boys who terrorised Catholics, Jews, Trade Unionists and any foreign nationals unfortunate to end up in the sectarian cauldron of 1930s Glasgow.
“I honestly don’t see the difference between 1930s Orange Order and that of 2015 they are still bigots who hate a Catholic about the place”
Kevin.
With many thanks to: The Irish News. For the story above.
For more information click on the link below:
– https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasgow_razor_gangs
For more information on the story and pictures above click on the link below:
– http://www.deadlinenews.co.uk/2014/11/03/loyalist-band-give-prize-to-man-in-kkk-uniform/
TUV calls for painting depicting ‘Orangemen as KKK members’ to be removed from RUA exhibition – BelfastTelegraph.co.uk
With many thanks to: Belfast Telegraph. For the origional story.
Check out the video for yourself and you come up with your own conclusions:
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=My5cf2zlkpo&feature=youtube_gdata_player
FIND IT IN YOUR HEART TO HELP A POOR PROD
TODAY we launch an appeal for much-needed funds for loyalist paramilitaries and Loyalist Communities Council (LCC).
After giving up their criminal campaign, 20 years after they last promised to give up their criminal campaign, the Re-home a Red Hand and Adopt a UDA Man (RRHAUDAM) appeals urgently need your help. For just £50,000 a year could give idle buggers like Sammy from the Shankill a community worker’s job.
It would help to pay for the three holidays a year and the top-of-the-range car which he and his family so badly need. In return, he’ll promise to enrich the culture of his community and lay off doing anyones’ knees. Obviously he’d still be good for a bit of blow (weed) but keep it to yourself. But the suddenly contrite paramilitaries aren’t looking for charity. They will be bringing important job skills to any cushy number they’re offered. They have maths skills from years of working out if Jonty has a kilo of weed how many half ounces can he knock out if he expects a 50 per cent mark up.
Or if a local businessman refuses to pay his £80-a-week protection money how many bricks will it take to do his windows. They have invaluable people skills, honed over decades of dealing with the local community – the bookies, the bar men, the travel agents, the car dealers, the wee girls in the off-licence. And all they want is the chance to give back to their community by getting the jobs few of them have ever bothered getting before. They long to experience life on minimum wage and a zero hours contract because who needs qualifications when you have an overwhelming sense of entitlement. Our appeal so far has raised £1 million from the Tony Blair’s an Angel Who’s Still Fixing the World Foundation.
VITALLY
It’s a tiny amount compared to the £26 million which was raised by the PIRA in their Northern Bank fundraiser but it was either that or cupcake sales for the next millennium. It’s vitally important that the paramilitaries are shown our love because otherwise they might just keep doing what they’ve always done for the last 20 years. There will be some strays from the path of peace, like Tyrone, South East Antrim, East Belfast and the UPRG who aren’t ready to leave the old ways behind. They will be humanely arrested for blatantly breaking the law, even though they’ve miraculously got away with a life of crime up to now. So please give what you can – support your local loyalist so he doesn’t have to.
With many thanks to: Roisin Gorman. http://roisin.gorman@sundayworld.com. Sunday World.
PRIEST HOPES JUDGMENT WILL SEND OUT PARADES MESSAGE
A PRIEST on Wednsday night said he hoped the judgment in the case of 13 (unlucky for sum number) loyalist bandsmen who played a sectarian tune outside his Belfast Catholic Church would send a clear message for future parades.
Three members of the Young Conway Volunteers ( a band allinged to the morden day UVF) on Wednsday 29th April received suspended jail sentences after being filmed playing the Famine Song while marching in a circle outside St Patrick’s Church in July 2012. Ten others were bound over to keep the peace, and £300 in fines were imposed on all but two of the accused. District Judge Paul Copeland told them: ” This was outrageous and inflammatory behaviour, which could have precipitated serious public disorder.” St Patrick’s parish priest Fr Michael Sheehan, said he “noted the very clear judgement” and hoped “this will add clarity for future bands and to future determinations by the Parades Commisssion”. “Again I encocourage all to follow and adhere to the determinations in contentious parades.” Shame Fein councillor JJ Magee, who recorded the footage of the band, said the convictons “send out a clear message that sectarianism will not be tolerated”. However, a TUV councillor described the news as “disgusting” and offered to pay part of the fine imposed on one loyalist. The bandsmen had fought a charge of ‘doing a provocative act likely to cause public disorder or a breach of the peace’. They denied playing the Famine Song – including the line ‘The famine’s over, why don’t you go home?’ – claiming instead to have been performing the Beach Boys hit Sloop John B. Convicted were: Aaron McCory (29) of Argyle Court; Alan Adlam (42) from Dewey Street; Christopher McKay (24) of Wallasey Park; Bryan Green (27) of Canmore Court; Stephen Smyth (22) from Tennent Streeet; William Carlisle (30) from Ainsworth Avenue; Jonathan Airdrie (25) of Columbia Street; Paul Shaw (35) of Geoffrey Street; Thomas Gibney (36) from Lawnbrook Avenue – all in Belfast – and Ryan Aitcheson (28) of Ravelston Avenue in Newtownabbey. Charges were also brought against three other youths. 
Defence lawyers played songs by a Swedish folk singer, a Star Trek enthusiast and football fan chants – all to the same tune – in a bid to have their clients cleared. Paul Shaw, band leader on the day, said they had been forced to stop outside St Patrick’s due to a break in the July 12th parade and started up the Beach Boys to ward off lethargy amoung members tired from the previous night. He revealed that he later penned a letter to Catholic parishioners “to explain the band in no way had intention to cause any upset to anybody”. However, Judge Copeland said it was “a studied and deliberate piece of conduct which involved their playing and marching (pictued above outside St Patrick’s) not just past this church, but deliberately remaining within feet of the doorstep”. He added that the Famine Song has entered into the “repertoire” of loyalist band music and had the potential “as an anthem of sectarian abuse at least, or, at worst, racial hatred”. Five-month prison sentences, suspended for two years, were imposed on McCrory, McKay and Airdrie. The other 10 were each bound over to keep the peace for the next two years. A lawyer for Shaw and one of the teenagers confirmed their intention to appeal the verdict.
Shame Fein councillor welcomes convictions of bandsmen
Mr Magee shot damning footage of the band walking in circles while playing the controversial song – previously judged to be racist by a Scotish court – during a July 12 march. The episode sparked one of the most bitter parades disputes across the North of Ireland in recent years as well as bringing the Famine Song to wider attention. The hate-filled tune was also at the centre of controversy recently after Bangor Protestant Boys played it within earshot of St Patrick’s Church during an Apprentice Boys parade on Easter Monday. While loyal order marches past the city centre church and nearby nationalist Carrick Hill district have been contentious down the years, the event outside St Patrick’s Church in 2012 dramatically raised tensions and provoked protests by residents which have continued since. Based on the loyalist Shankill Road, the Young Conway Volunteers band was formed in 2007 for the “preservation and promotion” of the memory of Thomas Kinner – a member of the UVF youth wing, the Young Citizen Volunteers, who died in 2003. At the time unionist politicians defended the band including former DUP minister Nelson McCausland, who described their actions as “naive”. 
Shame Fein accused Mr McCausland and North Belfast MP Nigel Dodds of being “in close proximity” to the bandsmen but failing to intervene. The band was at the centre of more controversy weeks later when it defied a Parades Commission ruling not to take part in Royal Black Institution march past St Patrick’s Church. Prior to the August parade First Minister Peter (the lock keeper got it in) Robinson was one of several unionist politicians and band members who signed an open letter to then Secretary of State Owen Patterson complaining about the YCV ban and warning of possible violence. The letter called Mr Patterson a ‘Pontius Pilate’ and urged him to disband the Parades Commission, accusing it of making “a monstrous determination that defies logic and natural justice”. The Royal Black Institution later apologised to clergy and parishioners of St Patrick’s Church after bands defied commission rulings on music and trouble broke out, leaving seven police officers injured. Tensions have remained high during subsequent marches past the church, with protesters claiming bands have continued to breach determinations. Last year 17 members of the YCV band were cleared of breaching a commission determination relating to the August parade after a judge ruled it could not be proved they knew anything about the ruling. 
Two ‘Pride of Ardoyne’ drummers were also cleared of knowingly breaching restrictions afer citing eyesight and reading limitations for not seeing signs warning to play a single drumbeat. Questions were then asked of the legal system when, weeks later, six members of the Constable Anderson Memorial Band from Larne in Co Antrim were convicted of flouting a Parades Commission ruling not to play music outside St Patrick’s Church during the same parade. In April last year 11 members of Dunmurry Protestant Boys were acquitted of provocatively playing a sectarian tune outside the church during an Apprentice Boys parade in November 2012. They had denied striking up the Famine Song, claiming instead they were playing the Beach Boys’ Sloop john B, which uses the same air.
A judge threw the case out on the basis that it could not be proven that a breach of the peace (one law for Protestants another for Catholics) was either intended or likely. But later that month the most senior member of the Royal Black Institution in Belfast was one of five members of the organisation convicted of knowingly breaching a ban on loyalist bands playing music outside St Patrick’s Church. William Mawhinney was also the Orange Order’s Belfast county secretary and has played a central part in demonstrations connected to the loyalist protest camp in the Twaddell area close to Ardoyne in North Belfast. Meanwhile, in 2013 William Bell (48), known as Billy, admitted assaulting JJ Magee during the July 2012 parade as it past Saint Patrick’s Church in North Belfast. Bell waved a club-shaped stick at the Shame Fein member, who has since been elected to Belfast City Council, as he was filming the band outside the church. Mr Magee welcomed the latest convictions on Wednsday night. “It sends out a clear message that sectarianism will not be tolerated,” he said. “Time and time again bands stick two fingers up to the parishioners of St Patrick’s Church. He also called on the Orange Order, which to date has refused to meet Carrick Hill residents, to enter into talks. The Orange Order, which hires these bands, claims it wants respect for its expression of culture but they need to realise that respect is a two-way street,” he said. A spokesman for the County Grand Orange Lodge of Belfast said: “As the ruling is the subject of a possible appeal it would be inappropiate to comment.” The DUP’s Nelson McCausland meanwhile said he was “appalled” at a decision to not prosecute a band called The Druids who were accused of making anti-British army remarks during last year’s Ardoyne Fleadh. He said it was ,” Ironic that this decision has been revealed on the same day” as the YCV band members were convicted.
With many thanks to: Connla Young, The Irish News, for the origional story.
Politician offers to help pay court
A TUV politician has offered to help pay the court fine handed down to one of the bandsmen convicted on Wednsday April 29th.
Jolene Bunting, Belfast’s only a TUV councillor, said she would pay part of the £300 fine imposed on Christopher McKay. McKay, of Wallasey Park in North Belfast, was one of three bandsmen given a five-month prison sentence suspended for two years. Shortly after the court hearing, the 24-year-old expressed his anger over the sentence on Facebook. Replaying to his message, Ms Bunting wrote: “Absolutely disgusting, there was NOT illegal about what the band done (sic). I will give you a couple of pound towarwards your fine Chrissy.” However, McKay told the councillor that a financial contribution was unnecessary. “No mate its sweet ill get it paid chum iv 10 weeks mate,”he wrote. A number of Facebook friends also showed their support for the defendent and criticised the court decision. McKay described it as “shockin like cuz were prods”. Last year Ms Bunting apologised for sectarian comments she made online in 2011 about Catholics. The councillor, aged in her early twenties, had been heavily criticised for the remarks after being elected to the new Belfast super council. One message read: “I’m so sick of the poor Catholic bastards they make me sick.” Ms Bunting adimitted what she wrote was “wrong” – but said she didn’t regret the content, “I do not want to appologise for the innocent people in the Court ward who I offended by using the word Catholic when I ment republicans,” she said.
With many thanks to: Brendan Hughes, The Irish News, For the orgional story.
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