Claims that loyalists made five finger gestures passing Lower Ormeau bookmakers
CALLS have been made for the PSNI and Translink to investigate claims that loyalist bandsmen made sectarian gestures while onboard a bus travelling through the Lower Ormean Road. Last month the Parades Commission banned an Apprentice Boys parade from crossing into the nationalist area which became a parading flashpoint after five Catholic men and boys were murdered by the UFF in the Sean Grahams bookmakers in 1992. Loyal Order parades have been prevented from proceeding over the Ormeau Bridge since 1999. Gerard Rice from the Lower Ormeau Concerned Community said that loyalists who boarded buses across the bridge on the Ormeau Road gave five finger gestures at their bus drove past the bookmakers on Saturday morning. In recent months a memorial to the victims of the massacre has been attacked on two occasions. Sinn Féin MLA for South Belfast, Deirdre Hargey, said the reports of sectarian taunts “are extremely concerning” and called for answers from the PSNI and Translink. “Tensions in this community are already high, with the memorial to the five victims attacked twice in recent months," she said. “More than 30 years after the massacre, families are still having to put up with sectarian intimidation. “The PSNI and Translink must ensure these reports are urgently investigated. The people of the lower Ormeau Road deserve to live in peace, free from sectarian harassment".
