Orange Order

The Orange Order is a Protestant fraternal organisation largely based in the province of Ulster, Ireland and in western Scotland but which has a worldwide membership. The Orange Order was founded in Loughgall, County Armagh, Ireland in 1795. Its members and supporters see it as a pious organisation, celebrating Protestant culture and identity. Its critics accuse it of sectarianism and anti-Catholicism.

The Twelfth

The Twelfth however remains a deeply divisive issue, not least because of allegations of triumphalism and anti-Catholicism against the Orange Order in the conduct of its marches and criticism of its behaviour towards Roman Catholics. Most Orange Order marches in Ireland are uncontroversial; marches in the Republic of Ireland, notably in Rossknowlagh, County Donegal, require minimal policing and attract non-Orange Order members, including Roman Catholics, to watch. However at a few flashpoints, marches have become highly controversial. Many of the bands hired by the Order for the parades openly advertise their association with loyalist paramilitary groups (responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Catholics) with flags and banners.

Related Topics:
Rossknowlagh - County Donegal - Loyalist - Paramilitary

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The very first Orange parades were held in 1796, in different venues in County Armagh. The Northern Star newspaper reported that an Orangeman by the name of M'Murdie, died of stab wounds following clashes with the local yeomanry, in Aghalee. The next year, 1797, fourteen people were killed in disturbances during an Orange parade in Stewartstown, Tyrone.

Related Topics:
1796 - County Armagh - Northern Star - Aghalee - 1797 - Stewartstown - Tyrone

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To Orange Order members, the "right" to march anywhere on the "Queen's highway" is of fundamental importance in upholding the principles of the "Glorious Revolution". To critics, their demand to walk anywhere, even through Catholic areas, is seen as provocative, triumphalist and as asserting the supremacy of Protestants in Ulster. Many of the traditional tunes of the "Kick the Pope" bands that accompany the marching Orangemen have lyrics that are insulting and threatening to Catholics. In addition changing geographic and religious boundaries compound problems. Often Orange parades have been the catalysts for serious disturbances, rioting and deaths. In 1935, thousands of Catholics were forced to leave their homes after rioting left several dead. In 1972, the IRA called off a ceasefire after the British army forced through a parade in Portadown.

Related Topics:
Ulster - Pope - 1935 - 1972 - IRA - British army - Portadown

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A classic example occurred throughout the 1990s at Garvaghy Road on the outskirts of Portadown (and in the adjacent Obin Street area from the 1800s until 1986 when the march was rerouted). The Orange Order had marched the same route through open countryside for nearly two centuries. In a religiously divided Portadown, Catholics came to reside in large working class housing estates built on fields along the Orange Order marching route. Each side demanded that their community's "rights" get priority. To the Order, that meant upholding their "right" to follow their traditional route along that roadway. To nationalists and republicans, that meant the "right" to insist that they should not have the anti-Catholic Orange Order parading down the main roadway through the new Catholic area. Moves by the Parades Commission to secure a compromise by negotiation between the Order and the local residents have continually been frustrated by the Order's refusal to meet with the residents' associations. Initially, this was a high-handed refusal to accept any restriction to walk where ever they liked, when ever they liked - just as if it were an evening stroll. Recognising the poor PR value of that position, it is now the official policy of the Order never to talk to resident's groups for as long as their leadership includes past or present members of Sinn Féin.

Related Topics:
Portadown - Nationalists - Republicans - Sinn Féin

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While the membership of the Order in Ireland is usually put at around 100,000, it is thought that many members have left in recent years because of the increasing number of confrontations with police. A study for the University of Ulster put the number of current members at 40,000.

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Some Orange parades in Scotland have also proved contentious, and Scottish police have moved recently to restrict their number. In 1996, Perth and Kinross Council banned a march, telling the County Lodge that "Intolerance, bigotry and prejudice are implicit and explicit in a march of this kind." Glasgow council have indicated that they will ask the police not to allow parades in the city centre after recent disturbances. Pat Watters, the president of the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, has said councils should have the authority to ban troublesome marches (which currently rests with the police), and he intends to ask the Scottish Minister for Justice to allow councils to do so. During the 1992 marching season, the then British Secretary of State, Sir Patrick Mayhew declared "the actions of the marchers would have disgraced a tribe of cannibals" after Orangemen taunted residents of a Catholic neighbourhood they were marching through about the recent murders of five locals by the UDA. The UDA members had killed the men (who had no paramilitary connections) when they sprayed a betting-shop with gunfire. A statement from the UFF concluded with the words "Remember Teebane", refering to the IRA bombing of 17 January 1992 which resulted in the killing of eight Protestant civilians who had been travelling in a minibus past Teebane crossroads between Cookstown and Omagh, County Tyrone. The UDA was made an illegal organisation by the British government shortly afterwards.

Related Topics:
Scotland - 1996 - Perth and Kinross - Glasgow - British - Secretary of State - Patrick Mayhew - Cannibal - UDA - British government

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