Patsy McGlone 15th July 2010

SINN FEIN’S PARADES BILL ATTACK ON CIVIL RIGHTS

SDLP Deputy Leader Patsy McGlone said the Public Assemblies, Parades and Protests Bill agreed between Sinn Fein and the DUP is an affront to everyone who joined or supported the struggle for civil rights.

Speaking following a civil rights rally against the bill at Stormont, the MLA for Mid Ulster said: “Sinn Fein is proposing that everyone who wants to organise any kind of public demonstration will have to give six weeks notice to the new quango they are setting up with the DUP. Even Bill Craig never tried anything like that.

“Sinn Féin are now trying to claim the bill will only deal with contentious parades, but that is simply not true. Their bill’s Code of Conduct states clearly on Page 6 that all gatherings of 50 or more people are covered except for funerals. Trade unions, community bodies and even parents protesting about traffic outside schools will all be affected.

“The Parades Commission is dealing successfully with contentious parades – it has given us a dozen years of peace on the Garvaghy Road. It’s not perfect but it is a lot better than the toxic mix of politics, parades and policing that caused so much trouble for so many years. But the Orange Order and the DUP demanded the Parades Commission’s head on a plate and Sinn Fein gave it to them at Hillsborough.

“Civil and human rights should be above party politics. They should not be diluted or bartered away for political power. The DUP always opposed civil rights. The question is why Sinn Fein is going along with them?”

 

ENDS