26 Tweeting for peace? Twitter and the 2014 Ardoyne parade dispute
26 Tweeting for peace? Twitter and the 2014 Ardoyne parade dispute
Paul Reilly, University of Sheffield
On 12th July 2013, there were violent clashes between loyalist protesters and the Police Service of Northern Ireland after a ruling by the Parades Commission that prevented the return of an Orange Order parade past the Ardoyne shops in North Belfast. The subsequent failure of political representatives to broker a solution to this impasse, highlighted by the continued presence of a loyalist protest camp in nearby Twaddell Avenue, led many observers to fear that there would be a repeat of this violence the following year.
Tensions in the area were further raised when unionist and loyalist leaders announced that they were planning a ‘graduated response’ to the Parades Commission’s decision to alter the route of the return parade for the second year in a row. These plans were heavily criticised by nationalist residents’ groups, such as the Greater Ardoyne Residents’ Collective (GARC). By way of response, a member of GARC unsuccessfully tried to obtain a high court injunction to prevent the outward leg of the parade from passing the Ardoyne shops on the morning of the 12th July.
Fears of a repeat of the sectarian clashes previously seen in Ardoyne and elsewhere were not realised in July 2014. Northern Ireland Secretary of State Teresa Villiers praised all sides for their role in delivering the most peaceful Twelfth in recent times. Therefore, this study, funded by the Northern Ireland Community Relations Council, was designed to investigate the ways in which the peaceful protests of loyalists and nationalist residents in July 2014 were digitally mediated. In particular, it focused on how users responded to rumours spread on the micro-blogging site, which were argued to have had a negative impact upon cross-community relations in areas such as North Belfast. The nature of the debate amongst these ‘tweeters’ was also investigated, with a specific focus on whether they used inflammatory, sectarian language in response to the events as they unfolded.
A keyword search, ‘Ardoyne’ was used to identify tweets that referred specifically to the decision to reroute the parade by the Ligoniel Orange lodges in North Belfast. The ‘Ardoyne’ tweets peaked at 7pm on the 12th July (see Figure 1). One interpretation of this finding might be that that viewers of ‘flagship’ teatime news programmes such as BBC Newsline and UTV Live, which had provided coverage of the day’s events, had turned to social media to seek out information about the homeward leg of the parade.
A critical thematic analysis of all relevant tweets was then conducted in order to analyse how critics and supporters of the Orange Order used Twitter to respond to the rerouting of the Ardoyne parade.
Most peaceful Twelfth in years but little sign of end to Ardoyne impasse
The absence of violence in the contested interface area meant that there was very little for citizens or professional journalists to co