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Anti-internment parade banned from city centre

Police block the route of an Anti-Internment League parade in west Belfast last year
Police block the route of an Anti-Internment League parade in west Belfast last year Police block the route of an Anti-Internment League parade in west Belfast last year

A republican anti-internment parade has been banned from Belfast city centre for the second year running.

Two other marches planned around the same time also had restrictions placed on them by the Parades Commission last night.

The Anti-Internment League (AIL) had wanted to bring 5,000 people and five bands through the city centre on Sunday to mark the 46th anniversary of the introduction of internment, during which hundreds of nationalists were jailed without charge.

The parade had planned to start at 11.30am in Ardoyne in north Belfast before travelling along Cliftonville Road, Antrim Road, New Lodge Road, North Queen Street, Donegall Street and Royal Avenue, before moving along Castle Street to a rally in west Belfast.

The Parades Commission has now ruled that the march should proceed only as far the entrance of Clifton House on North Queen Street before either dispersing or returning to Ardoyne Avenue.

The area is close to the nationalist New Lodge and Carrick Hill districts.

The commission said it “has reflected upon the volatile and fluid situation which may present on the day of this parade, and concluded that the risks surrounding it may only be managed by the imposition of a route restriction”.

It also said the “high risks of public disorder surrounding this parade outweigh the significance of the claims for freedom of assembly in the city centre”.

A similar parade, starting in Andersonstown in west Belfast, was banned from going to Belfast city hall for a rally last year.

Dozens of PSNI officers and Land Rovers blocked the route close to the city centre.

In 2015 an AIL parade, which also left from Ardoyne in north Belfast, was stopped by police in the Oldpark area after it failed to clear the city centre before a deadline set by the Parades Commission.

In 2013 there was serious rioting on Royal Avenue after loyalists opposed to the parade clashed with police.

The following year a similar republican parade passed off without major incident.

AIL spokesman Dee Fennell last night said it will not comment until it has seen the determination but added that participants should assemble as planned.

A loyalist parade organised by Loyal People’s Protest (LPP) has also been restricted.

It has previously held protests during republican parades through the city and wanted to hold a procession from the city hall along Donegall Square and Donegall Place to Royal Avenue, starting at 11.15am.

Organisers have been told they must proceed from the front of city hall along Donegall Street North to Donegall Square West and disperse at the junction with Wellington Street.

A third parade organised by 'Northern Ireland Against Terrorism', which is also holding a rally involving leading figures from far-right group Britain First, had planned to walk from Donegall Square to Donegall Place and on to the junction of Castle Street and Castle Place.

However, the commission has ruled it cannot assemble at the front of city hall, starting instead at Donegall Square East opposite Patterson’s Place.

It must then make its way a matter of yards to the entrance of city hall before dispersing.

A post on the Loyalist People’s Protest Facebook page last night said it considered the determinations "another victory in our ongoing campaign to see all republican parades banned for good".