The selling of British Army Parachute Regiment flags from stalls during the Apprentice Boys of Derry parade in the city this month has been banned.
The decision was made by Derry City and Strabane District Council’s Health and Community Committee after complaints were made after last year’s parade when the flags were on sale from a stall.
The parade commemorates the ending of the Siege of Derry in 1689 at the start of the Williamite Wars and is an important date in the loyalist calendar. The parade is due to take place on August 12.
The Parachute Regiment shot dead 13 innocent civil rights demonstrators in Derry on January 30 1972 during what became known as Bloody Sunday. A fourteenth man would later die of his wounds.
The new guidelines mean that stallholders will be denied a temporary license unless they agree not to sell flags or emblems associated with the Parachute Regiment. A license will also be refused to stallholders selling or displaying flags supporting paramilitary organizations.
Derry has long been held up as an example of how loyal order parades can take place in a predominantly nationalist city. However, last year’s selling of Para flags soiled local relationships.
Bringing forward the motion, Sinn Féin councillor Caitlin Deeney said: “We all know that this is a highly sensitive issue, particularly in our city and can cause issues in our communities and I just think as a council this year we need to be able to actively ensure that these items are not being sold.”
On the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday last year, Parachute Regiment flags appeared on lampposts in unionist areas on the outskirts of the city. This was described by the Parachute Regiment as “totally unacceptable and disrespectful behaviour."
