The Orange Order of Ireland has staged an extraordinary display of power and determination, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of Northern Ireland and with it, the organisation’s total, unyielding opposition to the protocol.
“No surrender!” roared the Rev Mervyn Gibson, the keynote speaker at a rally in front of Parliament Buildings at Stormont before a crowd estimated by organisers to number between 20,000 and 25,000.
“Let me make it clear,” he told them before they set off on the 12km trek to City Hall, “if the protocol is not sorted then make no mistake - no mistake - there will be no next 100 years for Northern Ireland.”
He belittled those who argued for a united Ireland.
“Let me respond to this magnanimous gesture. We neither need for permission nor acceptance. We are here longer than Joe and Richie’s folks are in America. We are United Kingdom citizens by birth, Northern Irish through our culture and heritage, which makes us British by choice and conviction.
“We have no intention of becoming part of an All-Ireland. Save your breath.”
Earlier, Worshipful Brother the Rev Ron Johnstone led the crowd in a prayer that, in Orange tradition, mixed religion and politics and the Order’s version of history.
On this anniversary, he recalled the “thousands of families who had to flee southern Ireland because of their faith and allegiance” at the setting up of Northern Ireland and the (then) Irish Free State.
“Oh Lord,” he said, “hear us; make our land safe and protect us”.
He referenced the forefather of Northern Ireland 100 years ago. “We thank God for their vow to defend their British heritage and thank God they did.”
He ended his prayer with the cry: “For God and Ulster. Amen!”
And the crowd sang Oh God, Our Help in Ages Past.
The flute, pipe and accordion bands and drummers - 160 were invited - then walked into the city; down the Newtownards Road through leafy, prosperous Knock, into loyalist Connswater, and over the Queen’s Bridge into High Street and Donegall Place.
The streets were lined with people - at times up to a dozen deep on either side and in the loyalist areas bordering the mainly Catholic Short Strand swelled to overflow onto the road, forcing motorcycle police to urge them make room for the procession.
This reporter’s estimate is that some 100,000 people turned out to watch the parade and, in many places, applauded and cheered the procession loudly.
The 100,000 estimate was agreed by a PNSI motorcycle officer escorting the parade.
“It’s like this at the North West 500,” he said, referencing the celebrated annual motorcycle road race between Coleraine, Portrush and Portstewart, “and that’s about 100,000.”
Participants in the parade came from all over Northern Ireland, part of the Republic, Scotland, England and North America.
They gathered first on the lawns in front of Stormont, where almost nothing has happened since the recent election because of Democratic Unionist Party anger over the existence of the Northern Ireland Protocol, and where the flag poles were bereft of Union Jacks.
However, Prince of Wales Avenue, the grand lime tree lined boulevard that sweeps up to the parliament under the watchful eye of Dublin-born Edward Carson, a hero to unionists and loyalists alike, was itself lined with Union Jack festooned stalls offering a variety of loyalist paraphernalia, burgers and ice cream from Mr Whippy himself.
“It’s good to be back out on the road,” said Stephen Burns, City Grand Secretary from Derry.
His friend William Wray, City Grand Chief Marshal, agreed.
“After the pandemic, it’s the first major event that’s going to display our culture. I hope everyone enjoy it and it goes off peacefully - as I expect it will,” he said.
The aggressive roar of a pair of Lambeg drums rolled down towards Carson’s statue but gave way eventually to soprano Clara Wilson from Magharaberry.
“This is a song my Daddy always asked me to sing,” she told her appreciative audience as she launched into We’ll Meet Again by Vera Lynn. The song seemed to chime perfectly as post-war nostalgia mingled with a yearning for times that seem increasingly to belong to the past.
The parade wasn’t really about today, said William Wray. “It’s about the politics of 100 years ago,” he offered.
Ms Wilson’s second number was I Vow to Thee My Country, which gave way to It’s Now or Never by Elvis
“Resilience, determination, and fortitude will see the Union maintained,” the Rev Gibson assured the crowd. “Every man, woman and child here has a role in securing the Union for the next 100 years.”
But he was speaking to the converted.
