Protestants of the Orange Order celebrated this Saturday in Belfast the 100th anniversary of the creation of Northern Ireland, a province attached to the United Kingdom to the chagrin of Catholics. The celebration, initially scheduled for 2021, was postponed due to Covid-19 and falls this year in a difficult political context.
With our correspondent in Dublin, Laura Taouchanov
For some Unionists, this parade is an opportunity to show that they are still there and that their historic defeat in the elections does not mean their death. The last legislative elections at the beginning of May were indeed marked by a victory for Sinn Féin, a republican party. A first since the creation of the country.
Irene walks proudly under an umbrella in the colors of the British flag to protect herself from the sun. “ Everyone said we wouldn’t survive financially but here we are 100 years later! The Protestants are there too, even though the Catholics and the IRA have tried to destroy us “, she says.
” We were born with the Union Jack and we will die with it »
The various musicians and walkers started from the Stormont Assembly, where the unionist DUP refuses for the moment to cooperate with the republican Sinn Féin to form an executive. But this major political crisis did not prevent Protestant Northern Irish people from celebrating the country’s 100th anniversary as part of the United Kingdom.
And it was enough to see the number of flags and accessories in the colors of the Union Jack to confirm their desire to stay there. ” We are a strong community even if the Republicans try to destroy us. They want a united Ireland but it won’t happen. We were born with the Union Jack and we will die with it “testifies Roy.
For Catholics, on the other hand, the bagpipes will not come out until Ireland is reunited. An increasingly concrete perspective since the victory of Republican Sinn Fein. But these divisions are beginning to tire part of the young Protestant generation. In his loyalist musician’s uniform, Jake is attached to his culture but has trouble finding his place: ” Our march can be seen as a provocation but we are not here to harm Catholics. The political offer in Northern Ireland no longer matches the politics of today. »
In his address to the crowd, the Reverend Gibson, secretary of the Orange Order, warned: If the future you are offering us is not under the British flag then don’t count us into it. We are British and we will remain so. »