Parades in Northern Ireland
Parades in memory of the dead of World War I, particularly the 36th (Ulster) Division at the Battle of the Somme, are held in July and November.
The Boys' biggest celebration is held in Derry on the Saturday nearest 12 August each year, in commemoration of the lifting of the siege.
They also parade on the Saturday nearest 18 December, in commemoration of the original apprentice boys shutting the gates of the town against King James II's troops, and at Easter.
It was previously held on the same date as the "Remembering the Siege of Derry", but has now been moved to the Saturday before in an attempt to attract larger crowds and more participants.
[citation needed] Northern Ireland's biggest annual republican parade takes place in August, during Féile an Phobail.
[citation needed] In the late 1960s and early 1970s, groups of civil activists such as the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) and People's Democracy attempted to use the protest march tactics of contemporary protest movements elsewhere in the world to draw attention to political, social and economic discrimination against Catholics in Northern Ireland.
The civil rights marches and the reaction to them were a major contributing factor to the outbreak of The Troubles, due largely to heavy-handed policing.
[citation needed] Easter is a major parading time for both communities, and is often considered to be the start of the year's "marching season".
These are usually carnival-type events that evolved from the more stately affairs held in many cities in the United Kingdom since the Middle Ages.
As Northern Ireland has high levels of Evangelical Protestant denominations and traditional Romam Catholics,it is often controversial.
[8] War memorial parades are mainly attended by the unionist population of Northern Ireland, but recently nationalists have started to get involved.
[citation needed] Since the nineteenth century the British government and various local authorities have attempted to control parades and the disorder that sometimes accompanies them.
When the Select Committee published its report a Cabinet council was held at the Foreign Office for the purpose of agreeing the terms of the resolutions which were to be submitted to the House of Commons by Lord John Russell, Secretary of State for the Home Department, on 23 Feb 1836.
This resolution stated: The Secretary of State read the following response from the King to the House of Commons on Thursday 25 Feb 1836: The following day Lord Russell read the response of the Grand Master of the Orange Order, the Duke of Cumberland, brother of King William iv to the House of Commons on 26 February.
It said: The Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland met in Dublin on 13 April 1836 and voted in favour of dissolving the organisation.
The British government's policy of banning sectarian parades was eventually overturned after a campaign of defiance led by William Johnston of Ballykilbeg.
Over the next thirty years this was used many times to ban or re-route nationalist, republican and some left-wing parades, marches and meetings.
The local head of police could then ban or re-route the parade if he felt it might lead to a breach of public order.
Several Home Affairs Ministers were forced to make public apologies after interfering with unionist parades and two (Brian Maginess and W.W.B.
In 1969 an Apprentice Boys parade in Derry led to what is now known as the Battle of the Bogside, considered by many to mark the start of the Troubles.
Disputes over whether the Orange Order should be allowed to parade through mainly nationalist areas were often accompanied by severe violence.
The Orange Order has refused to acknowledge the commission's authority, although the lodges involved in the Drumcree dispute have recently agreed on principle to negotiate.
