CLAIMS by Sinn Fein that Friday night’s loyalist band parade in Newry could see the ongoing LVF-UVF feud spilling onto the streets of the city have been dismissed as propaganda and an attempt to stir up trouble by a DUP councillor.

The parade, which is an annual event organised by the South Down Defenders Flute Band, is expected to involve 40 bands with approximately 2000 members. The Parades Commission has ruled that the marchers are prohibited from going beyond the roundabout at the junction of Sandy’s Street and the Downshire Road. However, the parade has met with opposition from Sinn Fein representatives in Newry, with Councillor Brendan Curran claiming that many of the bands involved are linked to various factions of the LVF and the UVF and warning that this could provoke trouble in the light of the feud between the paramilitary groups.

“I’ve been told by a prominent member of the community that even the PSNI are deeply concerned about the potential for danger,” Councillor Curran stated. “There will be four hours of chaos in the Belfast Road area of Newry on the night of the parade as it will be closed to all but those who intended on coming to the city and causing as much chaos as possible to local people.

” Councillor Curran’s party colleague Charlie Casey labelled the parade’s organisers as ‘faceless’ and accused them of refusing to enter into negotiations with local residents.

“Newry and its community will be dominated by this type of sectarian bitterness for four to five hours,” Councillor Casey added. For his part, the Mayor of Newry and Mourne, Pat McGinn of Sinn Fein, has offered to meet with those organising the parade in an effort to ‘ease concerns’. This suggestion was made through the Parades Commission, he told the Democrat.

Councillor McGinn’s offer was rejected by Councillor Willie Burns, who questioned why members of the South Down Defenders Flute Band would want to meet the Sinn Fein representative. The Kilkeel based DUP representative, who expects to attend Friday’s parade, also hit out at Sinn Fein’s claims about the bands taking part.

“I am 100 per cent sure that none of them are mixed up with paramilitary groups,” he told the Democrat. “This is just propaganda by Sinn Fein who are against everything to do with Protestantism and Orangeism, every part of our culture.

This parade will be totally peaceful and is a cultural and musical event.” Councillor Burns also criticised the restrictions imposed on the march by the Parades Commission, stating, “They should be given the right to parade through Newry like other bands.” These sentiments were echoed by Newry and Armagh MLA Danny Kennedy of the Ulster Unionists, who described the Parades Commission decision as a ‘complete joke’.

Just 15 minutes after the South Down Defenders Flute Band starts its parade, seven bands with a total of 800 members are due to set out from Monaghan Row out for a parade organised by the Newry Republican Graves Committee.

This will finish in St Mary’s Cemetery on the Warrenpoint Road where a new Republican memorial to replace one which was vandalised last year will be unveiled. The Parades Commission has not placed any restrictions on this march.