PLANNED MILITARY PARADE AND SINN FEIN COUNTER-DEMONSTRATION

C O N F I D E N T I A L BELFAST 000138


NOFORN

G FOR SPECIAL ENVOY DOBRIANSKY; NSC FOR ANSLEY

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/31/2018
TAGS: PGOV PREL EI UK
SUBJECT: PLANNED MILITARY PARADE AND SINN FEIN COUNTER-DEMONSTRATION
PROVOKE CONTROVERSY

CLASSIFIED BY: Susan Elliott, Consul General, Belfast.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)


1. (C) Summary: British Ministry of Defence plans to hold a
welcome home parade November 2 in Belfast for troops from the
Royal Irish Regiment (RIR) returning from Afghanistan. Sinn
Fein (SF) and dissident republican groups announced that they
plan to hold separate counterdemonstrations on the same day. SF
President Gerry Adams told the Consul General that the SF
protest march will be peaceful. The Consul General asked Adams
to consider changing the route of the SF march to avoid the
gathering places of loyalist supporters of the RIR and dissident
republican groups. Adams agreed to consider the request and on
October 31 SF announced they had decided to change the route of
their march to completely avoid areas near the loyalists and
dissident republicans. On the same day, in order to diffuse the
tensions, the Ministry of Defence cancelled its planned fly over
of military aircraft and announced that troops will not carry
weapons during the parade. PSNI Deputy Chief Constable Paul
Leighton told the Consul General that the dissident republican
group EIRIGI had not officially informed the PSNI and the
Parades Commission of its plans to hold a march. As a result
the PSNI considers the EIRIGI march to be illegal and will
arrest anyone trying to participate. End Summary.

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MILITARY PLANS WELCOME HOME PARADE IN BELFAST
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2. (SBU) In mid-July, the British Military announced plans to
hold a welcome home parade and church service in Belfast for
Royal Irish Regiment (RIR) troops returning from Afghanistan.
The Belfast City Council agreed in September to host a civic
reception for the troops, even though politicians from the
Nationalist parties opposed the plan. Nationalist members of
the Belfast City Council from the SDLP and SF plan to boycott
the reception attended by soldiers, their families, and Unionist
supporters of the RIR.


3. (SBU) Initially planned as full military march with weapons
and military aircraft flying over the parade, on October 31,
Major General Chris Brown announced that in order to reduce
tensions, the RIR troops would be unarmed. He also cancelled
the military aircraft fly over of the parade. In addition, the
RIR's band will not play regimental music nor will the RIR carry
regimental colors. Several Unionist politicians, including Ian
Paisley Jr of the DUP and Danny Kennedy of the UUP, have
publicly expressed their unhappiness with the Gen. Brown's
announcement.

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SINN FEIN JUSTIFIES MARCH
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4. (C) SF announced plans in mid-October to stage a counter
demonstration on the same day as the military parade. SF
President Gerry Adams termed the British Ministry of Defence's
decision to hold a military parade "totally unacceptable."
Adams also blamed Secretary of State Shaun Woodward for allowing
the parade to proceed. NOTE: Woodward's staff told Consulate
that he did not feel comfortable asking SF to change their
plans. END NOTE. Adams stated publicly that victims of British
troop actions in Ireland would be offended by a military parade.
Adams and SF supporters have also said protest march also
reflects Sinn Fein's opposition to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.



5. (C) In a meeting October 30, Adams assured the Consul
General that the SF demonstration would be peaceful. The Consul
General raised police concerns that route of the SF march would
intersect with both dissident republicans and loyalist
supporters of the military. Adams admitted he had not focused
on the potential problem regarding the routing of the march. He
said he would recommend that SF modify the route because he did
not want any violence. SF officials contacted Consulate Belfast
and Embassy Dublin on the morning of Oct 31 to advise that SF
decided upon a new route which would place them nowhere near the
loyalists and dissident republicans.

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DISSIDENT REPUBLICANS COULD CAUSE VIOLENCE
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6. (C/NF) EIRIGI, a dissident republican group based in
Dublin, announced plans to hold its own demonstration on
November 2. PSNI Deputy Chief Constable Paul Leighton advised
Consul General the police believe up to 200 dissidents, many
bussed in from Dublin, may try to participate in this protest
march. The dissident march is scheduled to begin in West
Belfast (away from the SF gathering). Since this group did not
request permission from the Parades Commission, the police will
not allow them to march and will arrest anyone trying to
participate in this "illegal" demonstration. This could lead to
a confrontation and violence because the PSNI has intelligence
that dissidents may have small petrol bombs and hand guns.

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COMMENT
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7. (C) The British Defence Ministry apparently believed after a
year of devolved government that a military parade could take
place in Belfast without incident. However, its parade has
resurrected the anger and distrust that the republican community
felt towards the British military. As a result SF leadership
felt compelled to hold a counterdemonstration. With relations
between the DUP and SF already strained due to differing
opinions on how to devolve policing and justice, the extensive
media coverage of the outrage from both sides has not been
helpful. While the parade controversy has damaged
cross-community relations, peaceful parades by the military and
SF on November 2 will demonstrate that Northern Ireland's
political leaders and majority of the population do not want to
return to the violence of the past.


ELLIOTT