{"id":519013,"date":"2026-06-04T22:31:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T22:31:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/519013\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T22:31:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T22:31:14","slug":"loyalist-band-to-join-protest-against-gaza-humanitarian-walk-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/519013\/","title":{"rendered":"Loyalist band to join protest against Gaza \u2018humanitarian walk\u2019 \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

A loyalist band has said it will join a protest during a \u201chumanitarian\u201d march to highlight the ongoing plight of Palestinians in Gaza this weekend.<\/p>\n

Markethill Volunteers Flute Band took the decision after the Parades Commission restricted the timing of a walk organised to coincide with the \u2018Great March for Gaza and International Justice\u2019.<\/p>\n

The Gaza march has been organised by the Lurgan<\/a> Branch of the Irish Palestinian Solidarity Campaign (IPSC).<\/p>\n

The route of the march includes a section of the Newry Canal Towpath and passes through the mainly unionist village of Scarva, in Co Down<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Future<\/a>\"Prominent<\/a><\/p>\n

A group calling itself Scarva Concerned Residents intends to hold a protest during the march to oppose what it calls a \u201crepublican pro-Gaza parade\u201d.<\/p>\n

There was a large police presence as dozens of protesting loyalists gathered in Scarva last year, as a similar IPSC-organised march passed through the area.<\/p>\n

The Parades Commission has granted the humanitarian procession, which will include around 1,500 people, consent to go ahead with some restrictions imposed.<\/p>\n

A counter protest, involving around 100 people, has also been given the go-ahead, again with restrictions attached.<\/p>\n

The commission has also ruled on a planned march by Markethill Volunteers Flute Band to hold a sponsored walk to mark the 82nd anniversary of D-Day at the same time as the humanitarian parade.<\/p>\n

The event is in aid of The Frontier Pipes and Drums band, which is the only British military veterans\u2019 pipe band in the north.<\/p>\n

Organisers had said they are expecting up to 1,000 participants and supporters. <\/p>\n

The commission has now pushed the start time of the planned walk back to 2.30pm, as opposed to the 10am push off time requested.<\/p>\n

The commission confirmed it received representations from the PSNI \u201cwho expressed concerns related to public safety, due to the narrowness of the Newry Canal Towpath and physical impossibility for two parades to pass each other in opposite directions along it\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"AA loyalist band has said it will join a protest during a \u201chumanitarian\u201d march to highlight the ongoing plight of Palestinians in Gaza this weekend <\/p>\n

The band has now said it will join the residents\u2019 protest. <\/p>\n

\u201cDue to the republican appeasement process and two-tiered approach being operated by the Parades Commission and PSNI, we will now be doing our charity fundraiser for veterans whilst supporting Scarva Concerned Residents at 10am in their counter-protest against the unwanted republican\/Palestinian march through their village,\u201d it said on social media. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe would like to encourage all within the Protestant, unionist and loyalist community to come out and support the counter-protest at Scarva on Saturday morning. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be great to see men, women and children out in huge numbers in support of a common cause.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A loyalist band has said it will join a protest during a \u201chumanitarian\u201d march to highlight the ongoing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":484130,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[41],"tags":[9,10,79441,31651,13,14,68,6,11,12,48519,15,16,11605,5,72,224376,7,8,65,66,67],"class_list":["post-519013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-co-armagh","tag-co-down","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-gaza","tag-headlines","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-lurgan","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-newry","tag-news","tag-palestine","tag-scarva","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories","tag-world","tag-world-news","tag-worldnews"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116694213427111882","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=519013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519013\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/484130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=519013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=519013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=519013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}