Statement by TUV Court councillor Jolene Bunting:
“Having made a strong representation to the Parades Commission arguing that this Saturday’s parade should go ahead I am disappointed but not surprised by the determination.
“Once again the Commission has proved to be an instrument which enforces cultural apartheid and has exacerbated tensions in the area.
“For all the talk of promoting a “shared future” the Commission has yet again failed to ensure that a road, which does not run through a Nationalist area but merely passes shop fronts, cannot be shared for 10 minutes.
“Republicans would have to go out of their way to be offended by this parade and it is scandalous that the Commission has decided to pander to their demands yet again.
“Having stood with the people of the area who remain resolute to see this situation resolved in a just fashion I am disappointed that once again we have been let down.
“The Commission needs to wake up. The problem in North Belfast is not the parade but intransigent Republicans who, as their comments on the media have shown, refuse to say what the Orangemen would have to do in order to address their concerns.
“As a poster produced by the Greater Ardoyne Residents Collective (GARC) shows the Commission has bowed to the threat of violence. GARC has spelt it out loud and clear for the world to see – “No Parade, No Violence”. The obvious inference is that if there is a parade there WILL be violence.
“I would appeal to the people of the Shankill to rise above the provocations and protest in a peaceful fashion as they have done over the past 11 months.”