‘Illegal parades can go ahead’ despite court ruling – PSNI

Posted by Jim on February 3, 2017

PSNI police chief George Hamilton has responded defiantly after the
Supreme Court in London finally confirmed that the PSNI were wrong in
their decision not to stop intimidatory loyalist flag protest marches
four years ago.

There were widespread disturbances across Belfast in December 2012 after
councillors voted to no longer fly the British Union Jack flag every day
of the year.

At the height of the protests, the PSNI adopted a hands-off approach to
loyalist aggression as mobs blocked roads, rioted and held scores of
illegal ‘protest parades’. The largest of the parades travelled weekly
from east Belfast to the city centre, and involved mass violence and
intimidation against those living in the nationalist estates they passed
en route.

The violence was allowed to continue for months with minimal
interference from the PSNI, creating one of the biggest controversies
over sectarian policing in recent years. The PSNI claimed at the time
that they were prevented from taking action because of legislation
protecting the loyalists’ right to protest.

They said there was no “clarity” on the situation, while the then PSNI
Chief Matt Baggott himself said “human rights” was the reason the
disorder could not be prevented. Nationalists viewed the policing
decision as political and an attempt to appease loyalist paramilitaries.

After a case was taken against the PSNI by one affected nationalist
resident, a High Court judge said in 2014 that the police should not
have allowed the parades to take place. However, this was challenged by
the PSNI and the matter ended up in the Supreme Court, Britain’s highest
court, which found unanimously this week that the PSNI was wrong.

“The police failed to recognise that the integrity of that [parades]
system depended on the enforcement of the requirement to notify an
intention to hold a parade,” it said. “It is the police, not the Parades
Commission, who have the responsibility for preventing un-notified
parades from taking place.”

Lawyer Padraig O Muirigh, who represented the resident who brought the
legal challenge, said the ruling clarifies the law and powers available
to police and has “wide-ranging implications for the policing of
unnotified and illegal parades in the future”

SDLP justice spokesperson Alex Attwood described the court ruling as
“unambigous”.

“The PSNI had an inescapable duty to prevent, where possible, what was
plainly illegal,” he said.

East Belfast Sinn Fein representative Mairead O’Donnell said her
community had been “under siege” from illegal parades during the flag
protest.

“I commend the local resident who has pursued this case through the
courts on behalf of all the people of Short Strand. For months the
people of the Short Strand had to endure parades passing through our
area related to the loyalist flags protest,” she said.

“Essentially the community was under siege from these illegal parades.
The community challenged the PSNI to do something about it but they
refused.”

She added: “(The) judgement from the Supreme Court found that the PSNI
had to power to stop these parades all along but they failed to do so.
The PSNI got it wrong and the community in the Short Strand suffered.”

In a mealy-mouthed response, current PSNI chief George Hamilton
apologised to those “inconvenienced by this parade” but said he would
not necessarily issue different orders if similar trouble broke out
again.

“It gives clarity but it also identifies the importance of police
operational discretion,” he said. “So this judgment is not saying every
time there is an un-notified parade the police should stop it.”