Cancelled ‘March for Jesus’ to go ahead after Belfast Council agrees to host event

Orange Order member to help organise march from Ormeau Park to Belfast City Hall

A ‘March for Jesus’ is to go ahead in Ormeau Park later this month, after parties at Belfast City Hall agreed for the council to host the event

Elected representatives at a Belfast City Council committee meeting this week approved a request from All Nation Church to host a ‘March for Jesus’ at Ormeau Park, on Saturday August 23, with up to 10,000 people expected to attend. The address for the church given in council documents is the National Boxing Stadium, South Circular Road, Dublin 8.

The rally was originally planned to take place on Saturday, June 7. This plan involved a march from Custom House Square to Belfast City Hall.

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The organisers cancelled the date days before it was meant to happen, stating that due to the large numbers of people expected to take place, the event had to be cancelled for health and safety reasons.

A council report for the event was forwarded to the monthly People and Communities Committee, held this week at City Hall. It states: “All Nation Church are requesting the use of Ormeau Park as the assembly point for the event and will rally peacefully through to City Hall where the event will conclude.

“’March for Jesus’ is a non-political, family-friendly celebration of the Christian faith. It seeks to bring together churches from across the island of Ireland to publicly worship, pray for peace, and proclaim hope. All Nation Church piloted a similar event in Dublin which attracted 20,000 attendees.”

The rally will commence from Ormeau Park at 2pm, and will move on to the Ormeau embankment, progressing down the Ravenhill Road to City Hall, where the rally will conclude. Ormeau Embankment will be the site for the attendants’ coaches.

The report states: “There will be a family-friendly crowd of 5,000 to 10,000 participants. Final numbers will be determined by All Nation Church, through outreach and engagement with churches across Ireland.

“All Nation Church has contracted Worshipful Brother Paul R McMichael, County Grand Secretary of the Orange Order, to assist with the logistics of the Rally from Ormeau Park to City Hall. The PSNI have been informed along with an 11/1 parade notification being submitted.

“The event organiser will meet with the PSNI to ascertain the need for the closure of Ormeau embankment and to facilitate the parking of coaches of the attendees of the rally. Event organisers will liaise with neighbouring Asian Supermarket and Ozone Complex, in order to allow full access to both sites, if the embankment is required to be closed.”

Green Party Councillor Anthony Flynn said at the committee meeting: “Because (the request) is coming in late, I think it is prudent we ask questions, and make sure things will go well with this. I was not too aware of this event, but I am happy to see they have liaised with the Orange Order in relation to the logistics, who know how to put on a parade, let’s be honest.

“It says the rally will depart at 2pm, but what time will the park close? And can we be sure that that amount of people can move through the park seamlessly.

“I am concerned about the impact on park users, and I want to make sure that we are ensuring all those things are in place. I’m sure there will be marshals, but it is incumbent upon us to ensure residents aren’t unduly impacted, and park users aren’t unduly impacted by something they haven’t had time to see coming.”

A council officer said: “They set up at 11am, and the gathering begins from 12 noon, on the grass area and hard standing surface beside the Ozone Complex. We have ensured through the event management plan that this gives the least disruption to park users. We will also apply park wardens on the day, to make sure whatever conditions we have applied on the event are followed.”

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