Londonderry parades 'plot'

Waterside unionists today accused Sinn Fein of trying to orchestrate opposition to feeder parades on Londonderry's East Bank. A spokesman for North Antrim and Londonderry Independent Ulster Loyalists said a local Sinn Fein councillor was trying to drum up support for a residents group in an area used by feeder parades. He claimed former deputy mayor Lynn Fleming's recent statements after shots were fired in the Shepherd's Glen estate had an ulterior motive. "The attacks are just being used by Ms Fleming to further her goal of manufacturing a residents group in this estate," he claimed. "Strategically Shepherd's Glen is an ideal location for a residents group because it would have maximum impact on the one march that comes down that road - the Relief Celebrations. "I once said that with no Protestant residing on the Cityside, it will be regarded as a Catholic area and, therefore, out of bounds to marchers. "The scenario will be than that a residents group will suddenly appear in Gobnascale spouting all the usual rhetoric and so Spencer Road will then be off-limits. "Eventually we will end up with a parade having to be parachuted into Lincoln Courts so as not to offend Catholics in the Clooney, Brigade and Kilfennan areas, letting them march around the estate a few times, and then airlifting them out. "Judging by recent events I was right. It just seems that I got the location of the residents group wrong." Sinn Fein has declined to comment on the assertions. Belfast Telegraph Date: 29 March 2002

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