'Don’t blame us for Belfast violence': Orange leaders

Unrepentant Orange Order leaders tonight continued to shrug off blame for the days and nights of violence which engulfed Belfast after a contentious parade at the weekend.

Their attitude was swiftly rejected by both governments and republicans called the denials "infantile".

The Orangemen blamed the police, the Parades Commission, the British government and republicans for the trouble.

Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain expressed surprise that they were washing their hands of blame – and made clear it did not wash with him.

“The Orange Order organised that parade which resulted in, and sparked off, this vicious and ferocious and lethal violence,” he said.

Attending the Police Federation annual conference outside Belfast, he added: “I saw for myself the Chief Constable’s video evidence which was absolutely categorical.”

The video showed “Orange Order members taking off their collarettes and literally picking up rocks and throwing them with ferocity at police officers on the front line”, said Mr Hain.

Dawson Baillie, Belfast County Grand Master of the Order, insisted he would do nothing differently if he had last weekend over again.

At a press conference in the heart of the loyalist Shankill Road he said: “As far as I am concerned the violence was started by the police. The violence I saw at the weekend from the police force was absolutely shocking.”

Mr Baillie refused to condemn the violence, which involved petrol bombs, pipe bombs and blast bombs being hurled at police as well as the firing of live ammunition, but said he did not condone it.

There has been widespread criticism that he caused the trouble by calling for support for the Whiterock Orangemen, when the Parades Commission ruled they could not march on a 100-yard stretch of their traditional route along the Springfield Road.

Mr Baillie said: “I don’t accept any responsibility for calling people out on the streets to assist us. I feel entirely blameless.”

Asked if he would do things differently if he had the weekend over again, he said: “Not one thing.”

Orange Order Grand Master Robert Saulters was slightly more moderate in his language, but he also blamed everyone but his members.

He said he condemned the violence, and was saddened by it, but he hit out at the Police Service, saying the situation had been exacerbated by officers’ actions.

“They approached policing on the day in an aggressive and arrogant manner. Their complete lack of respect for the Order, its members and memorabilia would not be tolerated against any other cultural or religious group anywhere else in the United Kingdom.

“This does not excuse the violence, but it does go some way to explaining it,” said Mr Saulters.

He said that perhaps the most worrying thing about the weekend’s events was the widespread feelings of frustration within the Protestant community.

He spoke of “the extent to which ordinary, decent and responsible men have been goaded into behaving out of character by the authorities and their insistence on appeasing and rewarding nationalists at the expense of loyalists”.

Mr Saulters added: “For years we have seen nationalists achieve what they want by violence and the threat of violence.

“In these circumstances, when frustrated and with no other option, we should not be surprised that some individuals resort to violence.”

He said he was deeply concerned at the attempt to demonise the Orange Order and make them scapegoats for what happened on Saturday.

He branded the Parades Commission ruling which blocked their parade from its traditional route “the last hooray of a defunct agency that was feeling petulant because we had not engaged with them”.

He also attacked Mr Hain for failing to meet Orange leaders.

They had sought a meeting in May and were still waiting, he said.

Sinn Féin general secretary Mitchel McLaughlin rubbished the Order’s no-blame stand. He said the Orange Order and unionist leaders needed to accept responsibility for the loyalist violence.

“The attempt of unionists and the Orange Order to try to blame everyone but themselves is infantile. It is time for its political leaders to grow up. The first step is to take responsibility for their actions.”

Loyalist paramilitaries from the Ulster Defence Association and Ulster Volunteer Force joined rioters after the Orange parade, and Mr Hain acted today by announcing the Government would no longer recognise the UVF’s 11-year-old ceasefire.

The UDA, which yesterday called for a halt to the street violence, escaped sanction.