Apprentice Boys play down police report

THE Apprentice Boys of Derry (ABOD) have played down a negative police report of the order’s first ever Easter Monday demonstration in Limavady saying 99 per cent of those attending the parade had a great day and that no arrests at all were made.

Governor of the Apprentice Boys Jim Brownlee stressed the good working relationship the organisation enjoyed with the PSNI - particularly in Londonderry - and said he had met with police to discuss a Limavady Sergeant’s report to the PSNI Parades Commision Liaison Officer which was skewed toward the negative on what was otherwise regarded a very successful day.

The report was recently published by the PSNI as part of a Freedom of Information release.

Around fifty bands took part in the historical parade walking the short distance to the war memorial for an act of remembrance before the chairman of the North West Amalgamated Committee (NWAC) laid a wreath on behalf of the Association.

But two days after the demonstration the PSNI Sergeant’s report complained of illegal feeder parades, public drinking, public urination, two bands parading onto the Limavady bypass and also bizarrely seemed to tick off two busloads of bandsmen who suffered stone attacks at Greysteel and Dungiven for travelling home via these villages “despite being instructed not to travel through Dungiven.”

This was all in spite of not a single arrest being made on the day and the parade being hailed in this paper as a great occasion.

On the day the streets through the middle of the town were lined several deep in many places from well before the parade started.

And the Apprentice Boys said that the glorious weather made the day all the more enjoyable for the many families who had come out to watch the parade together.

Governor Brownlee told the Sentinel: “A lot of it was down to the fact that it was the first time experience for the PSNI in Limavady in dealing with a parade of that scale in a market town on an Easter Monday,”

“Generally speaking, there were no arrests at all on the day. To put it in perspective there was no trouble and everybody had a great day.”

He said the incidents referred to in the police report were probably representative of around 1 per cent of those who attended the parade on April 25.

He also said the stoning of buses at Greysteel and Dungiven was a policing matter and if any bus was stoned arrests should have been made were possible.

The Apprentice Boy leader did say the association took a dim view of the behaviour reported by the PSNI as “countless bandsmen, club members and spectators urinating in public in the areas of Roemill Rd, Moyne Walk, Josephine Avenue and Roemill Gardens,” “club members and spectators wearing blue bibs observed drinking from open alcoholic containers on Roe Mill Road having come from the Orange field” and “countless reports of on street drinking.”

The ABOD have a strictly observed policy when it comes to members sullying demonstrations by drinking.

“In terms of drinking we have a policy that we do not allow drinking at all. If an Apprentice Boy is caught drinking at a demonstration action will be taken and that can include expulsion,” he told the paper.

By and large, however, Governor Brownlee stressed the positive aspects of the Limavady parade and looked forward to working closely with the PSNI in future.

“I think it was a great day. It was the first ever Easter Monday parade held in Limavady. It was due to be held ten years ago but was cancelled because of the disruption caused by foot-and-mouth. So we had it for the first time this year and everyone involved had a great day,” he said.

He said that unless the Limavady PSNI had been involved in the Cookstown demonstration last year it was unlikely they would have garnered experience of handling such a substantive parade at Easter.

“We have met the police officers from Limavady and Strand Road,” he told the Sentinel. “Our take on it is that we want the police in Limavady to have a look at our relationship with the PSNI in Foyle during the Relief of Derry demonstration in August and the Shutting of the Gates in December.”

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