Arch raised ahead of 'Mini Twelfth' parade
ORANGEMEN in Glengormley are this week gearing up for their annual 'Mini Twelfth' parade.
Organisers will be hoping the event passes off peacefully. Two years ago the march was marred by trouble.
The parade takes place this Tuesday (June 24) - exactly a week after the controversial Orange Arch was raised in the town. Around 280 people are expected to take part with five bands playing at the event. The anticipated number of supporters, according to the Parades Commission website, is unknown.
On Tuesday evening (June 17) Glengormley's Antrim Road was closed for a time as a crowd gathered to watch members of Carnmoney LOL No. 25 erect the arch.
The event passed off without incident but in previous years it has led to confrontations between loyalists and nationalists.
In recent years opposition to the arch has been spearheaded by Sinn Fein. But this year an internet page on the social networking site Bebo has been set up instead for “for all the people who don’t want the annual sectarian arch and their rags on our lamposts”.
Police officers will be monitoring the situation and are hoping to avoid a repeat of the scenes that tainted the 2006 event when demonstrators threw missiles including golf balls, stones, paint bombs and bottles at marchers as they made their way past Church Road. Some followers of the parade and a number of bandsmen retaliated but were held back by police.
Tensions were heightened on the day of the parade after a hoax bomb was left on a bus parked underneath the arch.
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Weather for Newtownabbey
Saturday 04 February 2012
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