Protestants lit huge bonfires across Northern Ireland on Tuesday ahead of a day of parades to mark historic victories over Roman Catholics - in one of the most tense atmospheres in the province for years.The marches are an annual event to commemorate the victory of Protestant William of Orange over deposed Catholic King James II at the Battle of the Boyne on July 12, 1690.
Internal feuding among Protestant "loyalists" who support the province's ties to Britain and an attack on a Catholic home in Belfast at the weekend have heightened tensions ahead of the "Twelfth," the peak of Northern Ireland's summer marching season.
Most parades are uncontroversial, but a few which pass near Catholic neighborhoods are bitterly resented and the "Twelfth" celebrations invariably sharpen sectarian divisions between the pro-British Protestant majority and pro-Irish Catholic minority.This year runs the risk of greater conflict: The Parades Commission, whose job it is to make rulings on marches, is allowing the Protestant march in Belfast to pass through the Catholic area of the city. Gerry Adams, president of Sinn Fein, said that creates "an extremely dangerous situation" and that "the sole purpose [of marching there] is to cause offence."
Although the violence that marked three decades of sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland has largely ended, following paramilitary ceasefires and a 1998 peace deal, the marching season often sparks conflict.
Last year, Catholics and Protestants hurled stones and bottles at each other during one march.
The march organizers say the route to be used is the only one available, but frankly that seems hard to believe. But if it's so, the marchers could prove that their purpose is not to taunt or intimidate by walking quietly through the neighborhood, without a lot of music and shouts. Somehow, I don't think that will happen.
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