Balaclava-clad protestors ‘guard’ Catholic Church forcing Loyalist march to re-route

A groups of masked protestors “guarded” St. Alphonsus Catholic Church in Glasgow on Saturday, forcing a Loyalist Remembrance Day march to re-route, according to the Scottish Sun.

The march, led by the “Bridgeton Apprentice Boys of Derry”, had intended to pass the church with Glasgow City Council’s permission, despite a prior ban on marches entering that street. This restriction was implemented after a 2018 incident when the parish priest, Canon Tom White, was spat on and subjected to sectarian abuse outside the church during a loyalist procession.

As the march approached St. Alphonsus, participants encountered a group wearing green and white balaclavas and holding banners that read, “No anti-Catholic marches past Catholic Churches”. Police erected a barricade to separate the marchers from the church. The standoff, lasting over four hours, escalated as both groups exchanged obscenities and gestures.

The situation impacted nearby businesses. Chris Mears, owner of Scran, a local café, had to close his establishment on police advice, fearing violence. He told reporters: “Sunday is our busiest day. We usually have an hour and a half wait for a table. I’ve not been able to operate, so I’m losing thousands.”

The Apprentice Boys of Derry, a Protestant fraternal society based in Derry with branches across Ireland, Scotland and England, regularly organises parades to commemorate the 1689 Siege of Derry, when Catholic King James II laid siege to the walled city. The group’s two main parades occur in Derry: the Shutting of the Gates parade on the first Saturday in December, commemorating the 13 apprentices who closed the city’s gates in 1688, initiating the Great Siege, and the Relief Celebrations on the second Saturday in August, marking the end of the siege and the Jacobite retreat.

Membership is restricted to Protestant men, with initiations conducted only within Derry’s walls. Historically, these marches have sparked violent clashes between Catholic and Protestant communities. The 1969 Shutting of the Gates parade in Derry led to the Battle of the Bogside, often seen as the beginning of the thirty-year conflict in Northern Ireland known as the Troubles.

In recent years, however, these parades have been predominantly peaceful, making this latest incident a significant setback.

(Twitter screenshot)

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