Unionist Parades
The majority of parades in Northern Ireland (nearly 70% in 2003/4) are organised by Protestant or unionist groups, and thus some sections of the community have tended to see attempts to restrict parades as an attack on Protestant or unionist culture. Parades by these sections of the community typically take place on Saturdays. This means that participants and spectators do not have to take time off work, and avoid parading on Sunday, which some Protestants believe should only be spent on purely religious activities. The only exceptions to this are the 12th of July, which is held on the same date each year, (unless the 12th falls on a Sunday, in which case it is postponed to Monday the 13th) and church parades, which are held on Sunday.
Read more about this topic: Parades In Northern Ireland
Famous quotes containing the word parades:
“What makes the United States government, on the whole, more tolerable—I mean for us lucky white men—is the fact that there is so much less of government with us.... But in Canada you are reminded of the government every day. It parades itself before you. It is not content to be the servant, but will be the master; and every day it goes out to the Plains of Abraham or to the Champs de Mars and exhibits itself and toots.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)