Loyalist parade prohibited from marching lower Ormeau Road

Soldiers cordon off the Lower Ormeau Road in Belfast in the 1990s ahead of a Loyalist parade (PA)

A Loyalist parade has been told it cannot march along the lower Ormeau Road in Belfast.

The Belfast Walker Club, a branch of the Apprentice Boys of Derry, had applied to parade from Ballynafeigh Orange Hall along the Ormeau Road, across the Ormeau Bridge to the lower Ormeau Road to Donegall Pass, where it planned to join a main parade to the cenotaph.

Loyal order parades have not been permitted to march on the lower Ormeau Road since disorder in the area in the 1990s.

The Lower Ormeau Concerned Community had applied for a protest at the parade.

On Thursday, the Parades Commission published its determination in the matter.

It ruled that the parade on its outward route is prohibited from crossing Ormeau Bridge at its junction with Annadale Embankment, or from entering that section of Ormeau Road between the junction of Ormeau Bridge and Annadale Embankment and the junction of Ormeau Road and Havelock Bridge.

It also reaffirmed the importance of respectful behaviour in the vicinity of interface areas, namely that there shall be no singing, chanting, or loud drumming and that marching should be dignified.

It urged that no paramilitary-style clothing be worn at any time during the parade and that flags, bannerettes and symbols relating to a proscribed organisation should not be displayed.

The determination comes after a previous commission determination allowed the Drumcree Orange Order parade in Portadown to march along the mainly nationalist Garvaghy Road for the first time in almost 30 years.

This sparked an almost two-week stand-off after protesters blocked the Garvaghy Road, and police contended they could not safely escort the parade.

Secretary of State Chris Bryant stepped in to ban the parade.

On Wednesday, a High Court judge ruled that decision was lawful.