{"id":367913,"date":"2025-08-23T19:01:54","date_gmt":"2025-08-23T19:01:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/367913\/"},"modified":"2025-08-23T19:01:54","modified_gmt":"2025-08-23T19:01:54","slug":"thousands-taking-part-in-parade-across-belfast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/367913\/","title":{"rendered":"Thousands taking part in parade across Belfast"},"content":{"rendered":"

Adam Mandeville<\/p>\n

BBC News NI<\/p>\n

\"BBCBBC<\/p>\n

Edith said she was “really surprised” by the number of people at the parade<\/p>\n

Thousands of people have taken part in a “March for Jesus” across Belfast.<\/p>\n

The march started at 14:00 BST at the Ormeau Embankment and headed down through Ravenhill Road towards the city, ending up at Belfast City Hall. <\/a><\/p>\n

Police had warned about traffic delays in the city centre on Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n

The service at City Hall was led by the musician Brian Houston and had speakers from various churches.<\/p>\n

\"PacemakerPacemaker<\/p>\n

Participants walked down the Ravenhill Road towards the city centre<\/p>\n

Organisers of the non-denominational event said it was a “family-friendly, non-political event to lift up the name of Jesus in Belfast city”.<\/p>\n

The Parades Commission application<\/a>, from the All Nations Church, said organisers were anticipating a crowd of about 5,000.<\/p>\n

Edith, who travelled from Dublin, said she was “really surprised” by the number of people at the parade.<\/p>\n

“I am really happy to be here.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Chano said he loved “seeing everyone come together”<\/p>\n

Chano, who travelled from Moira for the parade, said he was looking forward to “seeing everyone come together”.<\/p>\n

“I think it’s a brilliant idea, and it’s community at the end of the day.”<\/p>\n

Chano said he feels such events are especially important given the state of the world at the moment.<\/p>\n

“There is evil in the world, so there must be an equal and opposite force.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Martha Blackstock said she was “excited for the parade to show that Jesus lives”<\/p>\n

Martha Blackstock, from east Belfast, praised God for giving Christians “the opportunity” to come together in such a way.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Michelle Barden enjoys being with “like-minded people”<\/p>\n

For Michelle Barden, from Newry, the event allowed her to be with more “like-minded people”.<\/p>\n

“I think people have realised that religion, especially in this country, is restrictive and destructive. We don’t have religion, we just have relationship.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Fiona Bennett is keen to see more similar events <\/p>\n

Fiona Bennett, from Larne, said she “would absolutely love” to see more events like the March for Jesus.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

People made their way down the Ormeau Embankment towards the Ravenhill Road<\/p>\n

A number of diversions were in place in parts of Belfast throughout the day but the roads have since reopened.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The Parades Commission application, from the All Nations Church, said organisers were anticipating a crowd of about 5,000<\/p>\n

The March for Jesus events are held across the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Adam Mandeville BBC News NI BBC Edith said she was “really surprised” by the number of people at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367914,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[1144,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-367913","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-northern-ireland","9":"tag-uk","10":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115079633442633822","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367913\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}