Police chief appeals for Orange parade peace

Northern Ireland Chief Constable Hugh Orde tonight appealed for peace on the streets of Belfast ahead of a tense Orange Order parade through the city.

Hundreds of riot police are on standby if trouble breaks out tomorrow.

He declared: “I have more than enough resources to deal with anything I have to deal with.”

The parade past the flashpoint Ardoyne district is part of a series of Twelfth of July demonstrations across Northern Ireland, including Derry where Orangemen will parade on the nationalist Westbank for the first time in 13 years.

It followed an agreement between business leaders in the city and senior members of the Order.

Mr Orde said he was confident that parade would pass off trouble-free.

But there is major concern among his senior officers over what might happen when Orangemen pass any protestors gathered at Ardoyne shopfronts as they make their return from the Belfast demonstration.

Fears have intensified since 18 police officers and 11 civilians were injured when nationalists rioted at a loyalist parade in the area last month.

Mr Orde made an appeal for influential figures on both sides to help stop any outbreaks.

“I don’t think its too late for any community leader to say ‘Let’s look at what needs to be done and how we can comply with the law.”

But with officers called in from across Northern Ireland for the Ardoyne parade and another potentially tense procession on the Springfield Road in west Belfast, he insisted police would not be caught unprepared.

“My officers and soldiers are in the middle of this. That’s a very difficult place to be,” Mr Orde added.

“We are more than capable of dealing with whatever happens.

“We will do our job, but other people have to do their job.”