RESIDENTS of the Lower Ormeau Road have applied to hold a counter-protest during a planned Apprentice Boys parade down the road on 7 November.
The Belfast Walker Club (Apprentice Boys) have applied for a march to bring one band and eighty supporters along the highly contentious parade route. The march is scheduled to begin at 9.30am at Ballynafeigh Orange Hall, make its way along the Ormeau Road, and arrive at Donegall Pass at 10.00am.
The application is due to be considered by the Parades Commission on Wednesday.
The Lower Ormeau Concerned Community have applied to hold a protest along the route, scheduled to begin at 7.30am and end at 10.30am. The residents' application on the Parades Commission website is listed as having 1,500 participants.
The residents' application will also be heard on the 28 October.
The application by the Apprentice Boys comes in the wake of the latest standoff on the Garvaghy Road, and after the Drumcree march was banned by Secretary of State Chris Bryant.
The Sean Graham massacre's memorial has been vandalised twice in recent months, in attacks linked to increased tensions around parading by local community and political representatives.
Five people were murdered by UDA/UFF gunmen in the bookmakers in February 1992, and when an Orange parade passed the murder scene in July of that year, marchers taunted local residents by shouting pro-UDA slogans and holding five fingers in the air.
