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CNN Live At Daybreak

In Northern Ireland, Today is High Point of Marching Season

Aired July 12, 2002 - 06:21   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: In Northern Ireland, today is the high point of the marching season. July 12 marks the anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne and is celebrated with Protestant parades throughout Northern Ireland.

CNN's Diana Muriel is on the phone right now live from Belfast -- good morning.

DIANA MURIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Yes, I'm joining you from Chancery Square (ph) in the south of Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland, as hundreds of loyal Orange Order marchers come together to parade through the streets of the city on their way to a field at Edinbury, just in the south of the city.

Around 20,000 marchers are expected to take part in the parades here in Belfast. Throughout Northern Ireland, around 80,000 people will be marching in the streets to celebrate the Battle of the Boyne on July the 12th, 1690.

Now, so far the event has passed off peacefully. Last night, bonfires were lit, as they traditionally are, on the night of the 11th to herald the victorious day of the 12th for the Protestant Orangemen. There were no incidents of fighting but there was an incendiary device that police discovered in a van in Belfast. It was exploded in a controlled manner and forensics are currently investigating some material that was taken from that vehicle.

We understand that this morning, though, there were several petrol bombs that were taken, 23 petrol and acid bombs found in the Balamina District (ph) of the city, and also a tin of petrol was also recovered by police.

There have been, as I say, no incidents so far this morning. But security has been extremely tight, specifically at the Ardoyne area of the city, where a Protestant Orange Order march takes place on what's sort of an interface area, an area where Catholic and Protestant communities live side by side.

Very heavy military and police presence there. There was a crowd of around a hundred or so Catholics, of Protestant supporters, who screamed and jeered at the marchers as they passed by. No rocks were thrown and there was no violence of any sort at any time and the police quickly scaled down their security presence once the march had passed by.

I spoke with a local community Catholic priest, Father Aidan Troy. He said that he hoped that there would be no further trouble. This is what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FATHER AIDAN TROY, ARDOYNE AREA CATHOLIC PRIEST: There is a great desire in this community not to have trouble and I can actually vouch for that. Now, I could be proved wrong. But on the streets the last day or two, I think there has been a realization that everybody loses when there's trouble. It's a commentary on just how futile this type of marching, be it nationalist or Oranges. I think it belongs to another age. I think that in a modern Europe and certainly in a modern world and thinking to, you know, post-September the 11th, I think we've got to look and just see how do we inhabit this planet. And I can tell you one thing for certain, this is not the way to do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MURIEL: This time last year there was violence, though, in the Ardoyne area of the city, the area where the priest, Father Troy, works. Around 140 police officers were injured in a mob attack there. They're hoping to avoid such an incident this year, but certainly security remains tight throughout the city and, indeed, throughout the province.

The police have warned that there could be street violence seen perhaps later on in the day once the marchers return through the city, parading back to where they came from. And that traditionally has been the time where violence has occurred in the past.

COSTELLO: Diana, I wanted to ask you about something. In a picture that we saw a little earlier that some of the parade marchers, I guess. And if you take a look, they're firing these guns in the air and they have masks over their face. It seems to be an event that promotes violence. Why do police there or the military allow them to do that?

MURIEL: There seems to be a tacit agreement that the paramilitary, that they're allowed to display a show of strength, as that exhibition is termed here, that they will then not create any problems of a more serious nature in terms of violence, mob activity.

Certainly that display of strength that you saw by the Ulster Freedom Fighters is something that happens every year. It is something which the -- occurs in the Shankhill District, a district where loyalist supporters live. And, indeed, they have many supporters in that part of Belfast.

So it seems to be that if they're allowed to do that, then they agree that they will not cause trouble.

There's also concern that the Republicans, the Republican paramilitaries, specifically the IRA, who do not have a show of strength on the night of the 11th, they may be involved in agitating for violence today. We'll just have to wait and see -- Carol.

COSTELLO: We will. We'll be following that.

Thank you.

Diana Muriel reporting from Belfast this morning.

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