It Must be Marching Season

[AustinPowers]

What's the end game here for the OO because it's not going to be a march down Garvaghy road. They can nit pick legal rulings all they want but a march will not be happening. It's been established that the police are not going to evict a single protestor from that road.  Surely they can't be that thick at this point to not know that.  So this is about them making a point, creating disturbance, creating ill feeling and rancour.  They're happy to wreck any relations there were in the Portadown area, and by the sounds of it in other areas where they think they should get to march where they want unrestricted.

There are nuances within unionism.

Some (like the ones who signed the letter) want nothing to do with parades. A Protestant friend of mine in one of the cycling clubs years ago said his family never took anything to do with the "oul lodges. They're about nothing but stirring up trouble." They might vote for Alliance and give transfers to UUP.

Some (like my old neighbours) would take a passing interest in the parades and would sit outside the house to watch them, but that'd be the limit of their participation. Likely UUP voters.

Some probably genuinely believe their own propaganda about how the OO is a harmless charity like the Rotary Club. Some of them are probably mild-mannered, others would be the pious fire-and-brimstone types, some of them thinking we live in the end times. DUP voters.

Some are all-in with the sectarian supremacism and yearn for the good old days when Fenians would be battered off the street by a police force that was basically the paramilitary wing of the Orange. There may be a few among them who actually believe it's achievable, and are overestimating the amount of support the Orange still have among police ranks. Jim Allister would represent this segment.

Then you have the half-educated yobs who just see a good riot opportunity and are itching to get wrecking the place, and probably don't fully understand what it's all about. They certainly wouldn't know who the Peep-o-Day Boys or the Defenders were. Voter turnout might not be high among this group.

A variation of that would be the half-educated yobs who have figured out how to use a search engine and suddenly think they're Edward Carson. Bryson would be this sort.

To answer your question, there are some who probably believe they'll get marching down the road, and they're fantasising about getting through the Lower Ormeau again. I wouldn't be surprised if they think they'll even get through the Tunnel via Obins St. even though that route's been dead to them for donkey's years.

There may be some chess-players in there thinking several moves ahead and aiming to collapse Stormont, but my honest impression is that most of them don't really know what they're doing. Like the ones that pushed for Brexit because they wanted the border back, they're pushing in a general direction that feels right, but not putting much thought into the actual consequences of their actions, resulting in a pattern of strategic errors that consistently undermine the unionist cause.

Seen an old video recently  when there was trouble  with the  Obins street march. Mid 80's I think

When  was that route stopped? Did the OO give it up  voluntarily or  what was the story there?

[imtommygunn]

I don't think I will ever forget that vile woman dancing and singing 5 nil as they marched past Sean Graham's bookies.

[Tony Baloney]

I don't think I will ever forget that vile woman dancing and singing 5 nil as they marched past Sean Graham's bookies.

That's enough to never allow them down. I remember living in the Holylands when the police screened screened off all the streets onto the Ormeau Road.

[Eamonnca1]

Seen an old video recently  when there was trouble  with the  Obins street march. Mid 80's I think

When  was that route stopped? Did the OO give it up  voluntarily or  what was the story there?

It was around that time. They were just flat out banned from taking that route, although they seemed to get it into their heads that if they didn't get Obins St then they'd get the Garvaghy Road.

[nrico2006]

What's the end game here for the OO because it's not going to be a march down Garvaghy road. They can nit pick legal rulings all they want but a march will not be happening. It's been established that the police are not going to evict a single protestor from that road.  Surely they can't be that thick at this point to not know that.  So this is about them making a point, creating disturbance, creating ill feeling and rancour.  They're happy to wreck any relations there were in the Portadown area, and by the sounds of it in other areas where they think they should get to march where they want unrestricted.

There are nuances within unionism.

Some (like the ones who signed the letter) want nothing to do with parades. A Protestant friend of mine in one of the cycling clubs years ago said his family never took anything to do with the "oul lodges. They're about nothing but stirring up trouble." They might vote for Alliance and give transfers to UUP.

Some (like my old neighbours) would take a passing interest in the parades and would sit outside the house to watch them, but that'd be the limit of their participation. Likely UUP voters.

Some probably genuinely believe their own propaganda about how the OO is a harmless charity like the Rotary Club. Some of them are probably mild-mannered, others would be the pious fire-and-brimstone types, some of them thinking we live in the end times. DUP voters.

Some are all-in with the sectarian supremacism and yearn for the good old days when Fenians would be battered off the street by a police force that was basically the paramilitary wing of the Orange. There may be a few among them who actually believe it's achievable, and are overestimating the amount of support the Orange still have among police ranks. Jim Allister would represent this segment.

Then you have the half-educated yobs who just see a good riot opportunity and are itching to get wrecking the place, and probably don't fully understand what it's all about. They certainly wouldn't know who the Peep-o-Day Boys or the Defenders were. Voter turnout might not be high among this group.

A variation of that would be the half-educated yobs who have figured out how to use a search engine and suddenly think they're Edward Carson. Bryson would be this sort.

To answer your question, there are some who probably believe they'll get marching down the road, and they're fantasising about getting through the Lower Ormeau again. I wouldn't be surprised if they think they'll even get through the Tunnel via Obins St. even though that route's been dead to them for donkey's years.

There may be some chess-players in there thinking several moves ahead and aiming to collapse Stormont, but my honest impression is that most of them don't really know what they're doing. Like the ones that pushed for Brexit because they wanted the border back, they're pushing in a general direction that feels right, but not putting much thought into the actual consequences of their actions, resulting in a pattern of strategic errors that consistently undermine the unionist cause.

Seen an old video recently  when there was trouble  with the  Obins street march. Mid 80's I think

When  was that route stopped? Did the OO give it up  voluntarily or  what was the story there?

Was that not as a result of the Public Order Act being repealed in 1987 that removed the special status of the parades, banning them from going through Obin's street?

[AustinPowers]

What's the end game here for the OO because it's not going to be a march down Garvaghy road. They can nit pick legal rulings all they want but a march will not be happening. It's been established that the police are not going to evict a single protestor from that road.  Surely they can't be that thick at this point to not know that.  So this is about them making a point, creating disturbance, creating ill feeling and rancour.  They're happy to wreck any relations there were in the Portadown area, and by the sounds of it in other areas where they think they should get to march where they want unrestricted.

There are nuances within unionism.

Some (like the ones who signed the letter) want nothing to do with parades. A Protestant friend of mine in one of the cycling clubs years ago said his family never took anything to do with the "oul lodges. They're about nothing but stirring up trouble." They might vote for Alliance and give transfers to UUP.

Some (like my old neighbours) would take a passing interest in the parades and would sit outside the house to watch them, but that'd be the limit of their participation. Likely UUP voters.

Some probably genuinely believe their own propaganda about how the OO is a harmless charity like the Rotary Club. Some of them are probably mild-mannered, others would be the pious fire-and-brimstone types, some of them thinking we live in the end times. DUP voters.

Some are all-in with the sectarian supremacism and yearn for the good old days when Fenians would be battered off the street by a police force that was basically the paramilitary wing of the Orange. There may be a few among them who actually believe it's achievable, and are overestimating the amount of support the Orange still have among police ranks. Jim Allister would represent this segment.

Then you have the half-educated yobs who just see a good riot opportunity and are itching to get wrecking the place, and probably don't fully understand what it's all about. They certainly wouldn't know who the Peep-o-Day Boys or the Defenders were. Voter turnout might not be high among this group.

A variation of that would be the half-educated yobs who have figured out how to use a search engine and suddenly think they're Edward Carson. Bryson would be this sort.

To answer your question, there are some who probably believe they'll get marching down the road, and they're fantasising about getting through the Lower Ormeau again. I wouldn't be surprised if they think they'll even get through the Tunnel via Obins St. even though that route's been dead to them for donkey's years.

There may be some chess-players in there thinking several moves ahead and aiming to collapse Stormont, but my honest impression is that most of them don't really know what they're doing. Like the ones that pushed for Brexit because they wanted the border back, they're pushing in a general direction that feels right, but not putting much thought into the actual consequences of their actions, resulting in a pattern of strategic errors that consistently undermine the unionist cause.

Seen an old video recently  when there was trouble  with the  Obins street march. Mid 80's I think

When  was that route stopped? Did the OO give it up  voluntarily or  what was the story there?

Was that not as a result of the Public Order Act being repealed in 1987 that removed the special status of the parades, banning them from going through Obin's street?

If that's the case , it begs  the question, why didn't they just ban them from  going down the Garvaghy Road years ago?