If I lived in Northern Ireland, marches by the Apprentice Boys would worry me, even though I’m at least nominally a Protestant, and the Parades Commission there has an important role in its guidelines and code of conduct for processions so they avoid as far as possible creating disorder.
Here in the UK, such marches are different, and there are very few “contentious areas” in any case. The main purpose of the annual Lord Carson memorial march in London is to lay wreaths at the Cenotaph in memory of the many men from Ulster who served in the 36th Ulster Division of the British Army, made up of men from the paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force.
Families come from Glasgow, Liverpool, Belfast and elsewhere to take part in and watch the parade along with those from London. Of course there are still cases of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland and elsewhere in the UK, and last year I was threatened and mildly assaulted when I was mistaken for another photographer (who was actually a short distance down the road, but of course I didn’t tell on him.) Of course such behaviour is simply unacceptable. Fortunately this year everyone was friendly.
Carson himself was a great figure in English and Irish law and government – and one of a small number of non-royals to be given a state funeral here. Unfortunately he was unable to convince the Orange Order and those who came to power in Northern Ireland of the need to accord fair and reasonable treatment to the minority Catholic population, and instead left the country for London in 1921.
More about the event and pictures in ABoD Lord Carson Memorial March.