Dissidents 'will' protest yards from annual Apprentice Boys parade

The annual loyal order Relief of Derry parade is scheduled for Saturday week, (August 14). Fears have been growing that dissident sympathisers are deliberately increasing tensions in advance of the parade.

A spate of attacks at interface flashpoints at Irish Street-Gobnascale, Tullyally-Curryneirin and Fountain-Bishop Street in recent weeks as well as the attack on the statue of Governor Walker at the Apprentice Boys Memorial Hall have led unionist politicians to believe an orchestrated campaign designed to raise tensions is ongoing.

William Hay of the DUP told the Sentinel: ""I have to say there have been a number of incidents in the Waterside, at Irish Street and at Milltown View in Tullyally where for example a number of cars have been damaged. There have also been a number of incidents at the Fountain that demonstrate that tensions are being raised in advance of the parade on August 14.

"Having spoken to security analysts and senior police officers in recent months they too believe there has been a deliberate heightening of tensions and an increase of dissident activity."

The 32CSM recently shifted their Saturday protests against what they describe as the "inhuman conditions" meted out to dissident republican prisoners, from Free Derry Corner to Shipquay Street. Notification on the local 32CSM website states that the weekly protests will continue in the heart of the city centre until further notice.

When asked by the Sentinel if they planned to continue with their protests at Shipquay Street at 2pm on August 14, yards from The Diamond where the Apprentice Boys parade will take place, a spokesman for the 32CSM said: "These protests have been a regular occurrence on Saturday afternoons for the past few years.

"A few months back due to the deteriorating conditions in Magheraberry prison and increasing brutality and torture directed at Republican POW's, we decided to hold the protests on a weekly basis.

"No other events or activities organised by any other body will be a factor or an obstacle in our ongoing campaign to highlight the inhuman conditions endured by Republican POW's."