A representative delegation of members of the
Orange Order are protesting outside Larne Borough Council
Offices during tonight's Council meeting for one hour from
6.45 p.m. until 7.45 p.m.
The Orange Order are protesting at the decision of Larne
Borough Council to cease flying red, white and blue bunting
this year.
The Grand Secretary of the Orange Order, Drew Nelson, said:
"Larne Borough Council have long had a policy of flying
traditional red, white and blue bunting in the centre of Larne
during the summer.
It recently voted to change this policy, without first completing
an Equality Impact Assessment.
We believe that in so doing Larne Borough Council have acted
wrongly.
For the Orange Order there is a fundamental principle at
stake here, which is the status of the Union Flag and bunting
in the colours of our country.
Are we in Northern Ireland entitled to fly the flag of our
country and red, white and blue bunting in the same way and
on the same basis, as other parts of the United Kingdom or
are we not?
We believe that there has been a sustained and surreptitious
campaign by both the Equality Commission and the Audit Office
to restrict the purchase and display of the Union Flag, red,
white and blue bunting and other symbols of Britishness.
We have spoken to many Unionist Councillors about this matter
and they are almost all of the opinion that the purchase of
red, white and blue bunting or the display of certain symbols
of Britishness on Council property could lead to a potential
surcharge situation. This continual threat of surcharge is
one of the tactics used by the Equality Establishment to suppress
British cultural expression
The Orange Order believes that the root of this problem lies
not with Local Councils but in an anti-British ethos which
has developed in the Equality Establishment over the last
number of years.
This anti-British ethos is alienating many Protestants".
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