By Conor Sharkey
Castlederg Young Loyalists Flute Band has been forced to remove material from its website amid fears it could heighten tensions as this weekend's RIR homecoming parade in Belfast approaches.
Thousands of well wishers are expected to converge on Belfast this Sunday to mark the return of Royal Irish Regiment soldiers who have just completed a six-month deployment in Helmand province in Afghanistan. Strong support is also anticipated for a republican counter-demonstration set to go ahead around the same time.
Fears that the display could lead to a head-on collision between loyalists and republicans have been growing in recent days. On Monday, the DUP accused Sinn Fein of behaving recklessly over the parade. The DUP in turn were accused of conducting an "offensive coat trailing exercise".
Locally, division over the RIR homecoming has also started to bubble to the surface. Castlederg Young Loyalists Flute Band has vowed to travel to Belfast to show its support for the returning soldiers. Meanwhile the local branch of Ogra Shinn Fein says it too will travel to demonstrate on behalf of families bereaved "as a result of state murder".
And earlier this week, potentially inciteful postings started to appear on the website of the Derg Young Loyalists Flute Band. One, posted under the name 'Ex RIR' reads, "I will be there and will bring as many as possible to show our boys support. Everyone reading this please pass it on and post it on loyalist sites and guestbooks and show these scumbag republicans up". A second posting, apparently predicting trouble at Sunday's march, urged, "We could not be with our soldiers in Afghanistan but we can protect them in Belfast".
Yesterday, the Strabane Chronicle made band master Trevor Donnell aware of the potentially inflammatory material and it was subsequently removed. Mr Donnell added that the message in no way reflected the overall feeling within the ranks of the band.
"The reason we are supporting the parade is because a young fellow out there is a former band member. Messages like 'republican scumbags' are not the general feeling among the band and the material has now been removed. We see this as more of a thanksgiving parade rather than triumphalist and the last thing we want is for it be marred by any violence," he said.
Meanwhile, Ogra Shinn Fein's national organiser Barry McColgan welcomed the decision to remove the postings, adding that their counter-demonstration was in no way about stirring up trouble.
"Of course the decision to remove this from the website has to be welcomed. But what we are doing is turning out to show our opposition to the illegal occupation by the British both here and in Iraq. This type of homecoming parade can't even go ahead in England because of the opposition to the war in Iraq but it is alright to have it over here. It seems crazy.
"As far as we are concerned, this will be a peaceful and dignified protest against state murder and collusion and any violence on the day would take away from that," Mr McColgan said.
