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The Orange Order - Help Me Out Please


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https://orangeorderscotland.com/2018/07/09/updated-statement-from-the-grand-orange-lodge-of-scotland-regarding-st-alphonsus-church/

 

Statement by Jim McHarg, Grand Master of the Grand Orange Lodge of Scotland,

“I, like so many others, was appalled to hear the reports of the incident that happened outside St Alphonsus Church in Glasgow on Saturday.  Verbal abuse is in itself unacceptable, but allegations of spitting is vile and disgusting, and we hope those involved are brought to justice.  Whilst I am assured that no members of the parade were involved in any of the incidents, we understand that it was carried out by a small group of young men who turned up to watch the parade go past.

“The Orange Order is founded on the principal of religious liberty for all.  This includes the right of other faiths to celebrate their own heritage and history, just as we celebrate ours.  Unfortunately, there are a small number of people in society who seem unwilling to accept this tolerant approach.  Indeed, many of them allude to beliefs and sing songs about a time in the past which they probably know very little about or fail to understand completely.  I have only one message for them, you are not welcome at any of our parades!

“I have today asked our Executive Officer to call Canon White to express our sadness at what he had to endure.  We have also written to the Archdiocese.  We have contacted the Police to offer our full support in their investigations.  A number of members of the parade witnessed the incident on Saturday, and senior members intervened at the time to stand up for Canon White.  Those members will be key witnesses for the Police and stand ready to assist.

“Whilst it may be said that the Orange Order has different opinions to the Roman Catholic Church, I have no hesitation in stating that today we stand with Canon White in saying that this sort of behaviour has no place in society.”

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Guy on FF who actually saw the incident tells a different story than that which has been reported in the MSM ...

 

Having witnessed this incident first hand may I make a few remarks?
Myself and my daughter accompanied this parade from George Street in the city to its conclusion at Bridgeton. Having walked down High Street we turned left at Glasgow Cross onto The Gallowgate to be greeted by the usual site of several police fans blocking the road at the junction with Moir Street. Behind these vans and further up Gallowgate were a collection of antagonists gesticulating, shouting and challenging the marchers and it's followers. As per normal the police seemed more interested in ushering the parade etc along than dealing with what was obviously provocative and illegal behaviour ( breach of the peace). The parade passed along Moir Street and turned left onto London road.
At this juncture I would like to point out that the parade did not consist of the whole East group but rather was made up only of lodges/districts from Calton, Bridgeton and Dalmarnock accompanied by three bands, Bridgeton Protestant Boys at the front, followed by The Noey ( Bridgeton No Surrender for the uninformed) and bringing up the rear Bridgeton Loyalists. Purely as a guesstimate the participants of the parade would have numbered 350 tops with perhaps the same following.
As the parade turned onto London Road I was aware that each band in turn had chapped off and was proceeding whilst playing a single drum beat, which protocol was started well before the Chapel in question and observed impeccably by each band until the traffic lights at Bain Street a good distance past said Chapel.
However, as I was accompanying the Noey past the large iron sign that says Barras at Kent Street it became evident that some of the aforementioned antagonists together with assorted others coming from the Traders pub on Kent Street had decided to move towards the parade in an aggressively challenging fashion. This motion resulted in various followers of the parade reciprocating and the obligatory pavement dancing ensued. No-one from the parade got involved, not a bandsman broke ranks, no Orangeman stepped towards this provocation. The potential flashpoint did succeed in causing the police officers walking with the parade and guarding the chapel to leave their posts to hurriedly get between the two sets of dancers whilst the parade carried on its way.
As the parade passed the Chapel I saw the Father standing in his emerald green vestments upon the pavement outside his chapel gates, not upon the steps but on the pavement where the parade followers were passing around him. I was also aware that he appeared to be ignoring several (4/5) of what I took to be his flock who where unsuccessfully trying to usher him back within the bounds of the chapel.
As I say he was standing there like some breakwater and certainly caused a hold up for parade followers trying to pass around him. In my opinion this appeared deliberate. Accordingly I was forced to slow down and wait to get around resulting in my having a first hand view of what subsequently transpired. The police having intervened in their altercation, the parade followers who had retaliated to the challenge returned to follow the parade. Due to the Priest encumbering everyone's progress they caught up quickly. When they were shoving through us other followers they did berate the priest and one guy who was carrying a flag with a bamboo cane attached did point it back in his direction whilst shouting at him, but this was very evidently a pointing motion, not prodding, and came within no more than 10 to 12 feet of him whilst the perpetrator was travelling backwards away from the Priest not towards.
Curiously what I have noted in reports of this incident has been the disingenuous reporting of the actual abuse directed at the priest. I've seen it said that he was called a ****** bastard. He was, but once or twice. The majority of the abusive comment centered upon calling him a beast, a beasty bastard , a peado, a rapist and various other declamations in a similar vein but these seemed to have been airbrushed out of the story despite being the most prevalent and vitriollically delivered.
I did not see him being spat at or upon at all, in fact had he been so then I fail to see how this act could have been perpetrated without fellow parade followers being covered also, such was the crush at that point on the pavement. Nor would I feel that I would have failed to notice such occuring given my proximity to the Priest.
As for the perpetrators all i can say is that they were fairly inebriated and unknown to me, and I have resided and worked in Bridgeton for over 20 years.
If anyone from the OO reads this and would like me to assist in any way feel free to pm me. The reporting of this admittedly regrettable incident has been a travesty of obfuscation and untruths.
I note also that many previous posters have commented on the paucity of video evidence. I can't comment on the availablity of CCTV but I was continually aware that many people were filming the parade on their phones, however, I would posit that as these would have been directed at the parade they may not contain much that is helpful, at least visually. Secondly as the band's had chapped off most people may have paused their recording ( my daughter did). Lastly, due to the blockage caused by the priest people may have lowered their phones whilst endeavouring to manoeuvre through the crush. Perhaps at best what we might get is an audio representation of the abuse directed at the priest, the brevity of it and the imploring of his parishioners for him to remove himself together with his stubborn refusal to do so.

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Maybe this is what it will take for some to realise the agenda of the SNP and their eager collaborators in the press, and socially broadly. Unless they are out at the ballot box this will continue.

Edited by cooponthewing
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