The Right to March
01 January 1991
The Right to March
artdoc October=1991
On International Women's Day, a group of women from West Belfast
sought to march to Belfast city centre. They were stopped by the
RUC because one of their banners was in Irish and `the
fundamental principle on which RUC decisions are made in respect
of parades is whether or not they are likely to affect peace and
public tranquillity'. Since then, the Right to March Group has
had two other proposed city centre parades banned, on 21st April
and 26th May.
Under article 3 of the Public Order (Northern Ireland) Order
1987, not less than seven days notice must be given by anyone
organising a public parade, procession or demonstration. Only
funerals are exempt, although these remain regulated under the
Emergency Provisions Act. Anyone filing for a march must give
precise details of time, route, numbers participating, stewarding
arrangements and name and address of the organiser. The RUC has
powers to ban marches, to re-route or confine them more or less
as it thinks fit, except that RUC decisions on parades have
recently been the subject of a number of cases of judicial
review.
A resident of the 95% nationalist village of Pomeroy applied
for a judicial review of the RUC's decision to allow 7,000
Orangemen to parade through the village on the 12th of July (the
date on which Orangemen commemorate the Battle of the Boyne). The
resident's lawyer argued that if the parade was not re-routed,
then residents had only three choices facing them - to remain at
home acting normally and thereby risking violence; imposing a
curfew on themselves and staying indoors; or leaving the village
altogether for the day. In any event, the Orangemen would cause
considerable disruption to the ordinary life of the community,
one of the grounds under the public order legislation for re-
routing such a parade. The application was rejected and the
parade allowed to proceed.
The Right to March Group applied for a judicial review to
compel the RUC to make an early decision on their application to
march from the Markets area to Belfast City Hall on July 28th.
The Markets is adjacent to the city centre and marchers would not
pass through any residential areas. Before the High Court made
its decision, the RUC gave permission for the march to go ahead.
A similar legal battle surrounded the hunger strike/internment
anniversary rally on 11th August, attended by more than 20,000
people. The RUC held off giving a decision on whether groups from
the Markets and Short Strand could march across the city centre
(deserted on a Sunday) to join the Falls Road rally. The Chief
Constable was challenged in court to make an early decision on
the application to march. At one stage the judge asked the Crown
lawyer, `Is he (the Chief Constable) not being bloody minded in
mucking up the arrangements the organisers have made for the
march?' The RUC eventually allowed the Markets group to march but
refused permission for the Short Strand group to parade over the
Albert bridge - the only obstacle between this small nationalist
enclave on the edge of east Belfast and the city centre.
Irish News, 22.4.91 & 10.8.91.
Statewatch no 4 September/October 1991