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LOYALISTS SET SITES ON WEB ADDRESS : Parades Commission's name adopted by bandmen  FROM SUNDAY WORLD 7/5/00

A loyalist marching band has hijacked the Parades' Commission's website address. Kilcluney Volunteers from Markethill have posted their web pages under the commissions name, linking browsers to news about Drumcree, parades and band merchandise. And it even carries calls for bands to take part in a 12th July parade. The commission has its own website, but the naughty bandsmen are hoping to increase traffic on their own site by adopting its name. The move has been described as "cheeky" by the commission. Last night a spokesman said it was powerless to do anything about it. However its understood the body has sought legal advice on the issue. The commissions web address is www.paradescommission.org  , but if internet users add .uk to the end of it they are linked to the Kilcluney Volunteers website. And rather than reading about the commissions rulings or views thay are told how "our culture and tradition are being misrepresented and oppressed". It continues: " This site is dedicated to explaining why and how we and many others take part in these parades, and expose how Irish Republicanism is misrepresenting them to create sectarian conflict to further their own agenda"  The Armagh band also claims that a pan- nationalist lobby and media bias has suppressed information contained on the website. The commission has continually been at loggerheads with the loyal orders, most notably in Portadown where Orangemen maintain a vigil at Drumcree in protest at the banning of their parade along the Garvaghy Road. Recently the body was criticised over its decision to re-route the Apprenticed Boys Easter Monday Parade away from the mainly Nationalist Road.

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