Loyalist civil rights’ campaigners pitch up tents in north Belfast over banned parade protest

EXCLUSIVE: LOYALISTS are camping in for the long haul in protest over a decision to ban a feeder parade past a flashpoint area in north Belfast.

Belfast Daily can reveal that loyalists have pitched tents and brought in a caravan onto waste ground at Twaddell Avenue as it vows to carry on its protest against the Parades Commission.

The Commission banned a return parade by a Ligoniel Orange Lodge and a band from walking past the Ardoyne shopfronts on Friday, July 12.

Trouble erupted when PSNI landrovers blocked their route up the Crumlin Road, sparking days of serious rioting across parts of Belfast.

On Thursday night, loyalists came out in force to protest at Twaddell Aveune almost four weeks after the Twelfth parade was banned.

Around 400 people and six bands held a protest at Twaddell Avenue, one of the largest in recent weeks.

Said a source: “Tonight a protest camp has been set up at Twaddell. A caravan has also been brought in on a permanent basis.

“These are civil rights’ campaigners who were recently formed after the Ardoyne parade was banned.

“The camp has been set up on waste ground at the end of Twaddell Avenue behind railings facing the bar in Ardoyne and is quite close to where dissident republicans threw a blast bomb at police a few weeks ago.

“At the end of the police have no powers to remove them under land rights.

Tents pitched and a caravan brought in for protest in north Belfast

“They are saying its Belfast’s new ‘Greenham Common’. ”

Loyalists are also said to be angry over search operations carried out in north and west Belfast over the past few days.

Earlier on Thursday, a member of the Orange Order was remanded in custody accused of the attempted murder of a police officer during Twelfth of July rioting in north Belfast.

In the dock of Belfast Magistrates Court was Mark Jason Blaney, from Alliance Court, a cul-de-sac street off Alliance Avenue in north Belfast.

He was arrested at his Alliance Close home on Wednesday by boiler-suited officers from a special Tactical Support Group (TSG) unit detailed to make arrests over the trouble.

The 30-year-old had been identified by a special police unit which had been studying heli-teli pictures and also CCTV images from the ground of the trouble last month when a feeder parade was stopped from returning home by the shopfronts in Ardoyne.

Blaney, a father-of-three, is accused of attacking an officer with a sword during a riot on the Woodvale Road.

The full-time work was also charged with having an offensive weapon and riotous behaviour on July 12.

Bail was refused and the accused will appear in court again on Thursday, September 5.

Belfast Magistrates Court was told that when investigating police police put the charges to him on Wednesday evening, Blaney replied: “I didn’t intend to harm anybody. I’m sorry. I apologise.”

The prosecution said the accused had admitted receiving a text message arranging a meeting where swords and flags were handed out.

But a defence lawyer said this text message just referred to a meeting of an Orange lodge.

The police objected to bail because they said there was a risk he would commit more offences.

Mark Blaney’s solicitor said the accused was “under no illusions about the consequences of his actions”, but pointed out that the accused had a full-time job and three young children, and argued that the court could manage the risk of re-offending.

The district judge said that, given the context of the allegations and that there were more contentious parades to come over the next month, she was refusing bail.

Blaney was remanded in custody to Maghaberry prison in Co Antrim for a month.

However, it is understood he is expected to apply for bail at the High Court in Belfast in an effort to secure his freedom and also to keep his job.

Police on Wednesday tried to arrest members of the Pride of Ardoyne flute band on Wednesday

Belfast Daily revealed yesterday that searches had been carried out in the Glenbryn area of the upper Ardoyne on Wednesday morning.

It is understood police have been looking to arrest members of the Pride of the Ardoyne band which accompanied Orange Lodges back to north Belfast before their route home was prevented by police landrovers.

Said a source: “All but one of the band members were not at home.

“Police called at one band member’s home but he fled out the back door.”

It is understood one band member was identified by police after he appeared on a recent BBC 3 documentary ‘Petrol Bombs and Peace’ over the parading trouble.

Hundreds of hours of footage, heli-teli images, newspaper articles and public broadcast footage are currently being studied to identify people involved in the trouble.

A special team of police officers was set up in the wake of the Ardoyne riots to identify those involved.