Catholics, Britain incredulous as Protestant Orangemen deny role in Belfas

[Judi Lynn]

Sept. 14, 2005
Catholics, Britain incredulous as Protestant Orangemen deny role in Belfast riots

SHAWN POGATCHNIK
The Associated Press


BELFAST, Northern Ireland - Catholics demanded sterner restrictions on the Orange Order, the Protestant brotherhood at the center of rioting this week in Belfast, after the group's leaders rejected any responsibility Wednesday for the street chaos.

Leaders of the 50,000-strong fraternal group - once central to political life in Northern Ireland but increasingly on the defensive - staged their first news conference since Protestant rioting exploded across Belfast and several towns Saturday over a restricted Orange parade.

As the mayhem subsided Wednesday, the Police Service of Northern Ireland catalogued the statistical toll from four nights of rioting: 115 bullets fired at police positions, 146 homemade grenades hurled, 116 vehicles hijacked and burned, and 81 police officers wounded.
(snip)

Saulters instead blamed the police, British government and the joint Catholic-Protestant panel that imposed the parade restrictions for the violence.
(snip/...)

http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/breaking/091405NIreland_Riots.php

[Maple]

1. Maybe for once

the Orangemen won't get away with it...like they always have in the past.

[MichiganVote]

2. Got that right!

[Az_lefty]

3. Everyone seems to associate N. Ireland violence with the IRA...

these "Orange Order" jokers have had a lot to do with it.

[Maple]

4. Agreed

Only the Orange order always escapes blame, and everyone assumes the IRA just went around bombing things or rioting for the helluvit.

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. It's amazing - they've shown the video on TV

I can't understand why they bother denying it.

Private Eye's take on it:

[FlemingsGhost]

6. When does the Orange Order get classified as a terrorists?

Or have they already?

[Maple]

7. They should be

but they're not.

Maybe this will change things

[T_i_B]

8. Not the Orangemen themselves

but there are several other loyalist paramilitary groups such as the UFF and the UDA.