Protestants light bonfires ahead of tense 12th

BELFAST (Reuters) – Protestants lit huge bonfires across
Northern Ireland on Tuesday ahead of a day of parades to mark
historic victories over Roman Catholics — in one of the most
tense atmospheres in the province for years.

Internal feuding among Protestant “loyalists” who support
the province’s ties to Britain and an attack on a Catholic home
in Belfast at the weekend have heightened tensions ahead of the
“Twelfth,” the peak of Northern Ireland’s summer marching
season.

In a Protestant area of East Belfast, hundreds cheered as a
15 meter high tower topped by an Irish flag and banners of
rival pro-British factions was set alight.

The Orange Order will hold parades across the province on
Tuesday to mark William of Orange’s defeat of deposed Catholic
King James II at the Battle of the Boyne on July 12, 1690 that
cemented Protestant ascendancy on both sides of the Irish Sea.

Most parades are uncontroversial, but a few which pass near
Catholic neighborhoods are bitterly resented and the “Twelfth”
celebrations invariably sharpen sectarian divisions between the
pro-British Protestant majority and pro-Irish Catholic
minority.

Although the violence that marked three decades of
sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland has largely ended,
following paramilitary ceasefires and a 1998 peace deal, the
marching season often sparks conflict.

Last year, Catholics and Protestants hurled stones and
bottles at each other during one march.

Sinn Fein, the main Catholic party in the province,
criticized a ruling by the Parades Commission, set up by
Britain in 1997 to rule on contentious marches, to allow the
Orangemen to march through the Catholic Ardoyne area of
Belfast.

“The Parades Commission have created an extremely dangerous
situation in Ardoyne,” said Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams.

“The Orange Order have been rewarded for refusing to engage
in dialogue with local residents and will be allowed to parade
through an area where the sole purpose is to cause offence.”

Orangemen, who march to the accompaniment of pipes, drums
and accordions, say the parade follows the only available route
for them to return home. Ardoyne residents say it is an
anti-Catholic display designed to intimidate them.

Sinn Fein said former Irish Republican Army prisoners –
released under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement — would not
marshal Ardoyne protesters after Shankill bomber Sean Kelly was
re-arrested for violating the terms of his release.