The marching season: A question of rights and wrongs

Members of the loyalist Orange Order have campaigned for the right to parade through predominantly republican areas

(CNN) -- For more than 200 years, the marching season has been a source of conflict between Northern Ireland's Protestant and Catholic communities.

Members of the Protestant Orange Order, who stage the vast majority of the parades, insist it is part of their cultural heritage to march in commemoration of key historical events.

Catholics argue that they should not have to endure the "triumphalist" parades, mostly celebrating Protestant victories over Catholics, through their neighbourhoods.

The "marching season" is the period between Easter Monday and the end of September, when more than 3,500 parades are held throughout Northern Ireland.

But the major flashpoints occur in July and August, around the two most notable dates on the marching calendar.

July 12 celebrates the victory of the forces of the Protestant English king, William of Orange, over the Catholic king he deposed, James II, at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, confirming the Protestant supremacy in Ireland.

The first Orange parade was held in 1796, a year after the Loyal Orange Institution was formed, named after their hero William of Orange.

August 12 is the Apprentice Boys Parade through Londonderry, marking the relief of the siege of Derry in 1689, after the city gates were locked against King James' forces by apprentice boys as a bid of "No Surrender".

The Bogside

The organisation of Apprentice Boys was formed in the 1850s, and their parade is held on the nearest Saturday to August 12, attracting Protestants from all over Northern Ireland.

The parades have caused conflict throughout their history, but the key political flashpoints in recent years have been Drumcree in Portadown, Ormeau Road in Belfast, and the Bogside in Derry.

It was an Apprentice Boys parade in Derry in 1969 that led to the mobilisation of British troops in Northern Ireland, after what became known as "The Battle of the Bogside".

The Apprentice Boys organisation was established in the 1850s

The Bogside is an exclusively nationalist and Catholic area of Derry, overlooked by the traditional parade route around the walls of the city.

In 1969 a full-scale riot erupted when the Apprentice Boys jeered and taunted Catholics at the Bogside. Rioting quickly spread across other Catholic areas in Northern Ireland, continuing on a wide scale for two days.

Northern Ireland's then-prime minister James Chichester-Clark asked the Labour government at the time to authorise British troops to restore order on the streets.

Drumcree

As part of a long-term security operation the walls of the city were blocked off and the Apprentice Boys were unable to use their normal marching route between 1970 and 1994.

There were serious disturbances in 1995 when the traditional parade returned.

The same year, another parade became the main focus of attention -- the Drumcree Parade along the Garvaghy Road, a predominantly nationalist area of Portadown.

It has become a major flashpoint, triggering serious disturbances across Northern Ireland every year since. And it has brought the issue of parades in Northern Ireland to the forefront of the political agenda.

In 1995, the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), Northern Ireland's police force, prevented the Portadown District Orange Lodge from marching along the Garvaghy Road on its return journey from a service in Drumcree Parish Church.

Triumphant

Orangemen refused to be dispersed or re-routed, and a two-day standoff began before police finally conceded and allowed marchers, led by the Rev. Ian Paisley and David Trimble, to walk through, but without any bands.

Nationalist protestors stood aside but were infuriated when Paisley and Trimble, at the end of the march, held their arms in the air in what appeared to be a gesture of triumph.

The whole affair caused serious rioting throughout Northern Ireland, which resulted in loss of life and a breakdown of community relations.

The disturbances were repeated in the following year, when a four-day standoff occurred, with a crowd of up to 10,000 gathered outside police barricades.

Widespread rioting

A loyalist protester throws a rock at police lines during 1997 Drumcree rioting

The police eventually capitulated and allowed 1,200 Portadown Orangemen to march down the Garvaghy Road, and the "U-Turn" decision caused a huge outcry from the nationalist community.

In 1997, a decision was taken to allow the parade along Garvaghy Road, again sparking widespread rioting.

By 1998 the Parades Commission was in place and was legally responsible for deciding whether contentious parades should be banned, re-routed, or allowed to proceed.

The Commission decided to re-route the parade, but the Orange Order announced it would attempt to march its "traditional" route.

The British Army built a large barricade on the road that links Garvaghy Road with Drumcree Church, and dug a trench lined with barbed wire through surrounding fields.

A standoff began, violence flared across Northern Ireland, and a number of Catholic homes were petrol-bombed.

Security operation

On the morning of July 12, three young Catholic boys, aged 8, 9 and 10, were burned to death when their home was firebombed.

The tragedy provoked widespread horror and condemnation, but the Orange Order voted to continue its standoff at Drumcree Church, and a token demonstration was held in Drumcree that lasted until the following July.

For the 1999 parade, the RUC again launched a major security operation. A 15-foot steel barricade was erected, hundreds of feet of razor wire put in place, and a field ploughed and filled with water.

This time the parade passed off relatively peacefully after six members of the Portadown Lodge marched to the police barricade and delivered a letter of protest.

Ormeau Road in South Belfast has been a third main area of contention. Tension heightened since February 1992 when the loyalist Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) shot dead five Catholic men in a betting shop on the Lower Ormeau Road.

In the July parade that year, marchers chanted and jeered as they passed the betting shop. The nationalist community were determined parades should not pass through that area, and there have been several serious clashes since.