Belfast Ban On Liquor

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32210, 31 January 1970, Page 11

Belfast Ban On Liquor

(N.Z.P. A.-Reuter—Copyright) BELFAST, Jan. 30. A ban on the sale of liquor after 8.30 p.m. in Belfast this week-end has been imposed by the Northern Ireland Security Committee in a move to counteract renewed Protestant-Roman Catholic tension in the city. The committee, which met for two hours last night under

the chairmanship of the Prime Minister (Mr James Chiches-ter-Clark) also decided to extend the ban on public parades in Ulster to February 5.

Imposed after last summer’s widespread rioting, the parade ban was due to expire at midnight on Saturday. All taverns in Belfast will close at 8.30 p.m. tonight and tomorrow. Public houses in Ulster do not open at all on Sundays.

The committee’s twopronged attack comes after five nights of disturbances in the streets of Belfast, where groups of Roman Catholics and Protestants have been kept apart again by British troops.

A fine drizzle of rain fell on the city last night, and the streets were quiet. A statement released after the security committee’s meeting gave reassurances to Protestants who allege that the police are not patrolling Roman Catholic areas in Belfast and in Londonderry. In the statement the Royal Ulster Constabulary Commis-

sioner (Sir Arthur Young) gave figures to show that police patrols frequently went into Roman Catholic areas. Under the terms of the statement, all parades are banned, but public meetings will still be allowed, provided participants go to them individually, and not in groups. STORMONT PROTEST Members of the Opposition of the Northern Ireland Parliament walked out of the House yesterday, in protest against the passage of a controversial new law making the sit-in type of demonstration a criminal offence. Only three of the seven Opposition members of Stormont attended the final reading of the Public Order Bill, and they walked out before its final passage. The bill makes certain forms of public protest and any occupation of public buildings illegal. It also outlaws counterdemonstrations and makes it an offence to carry offensive weapons in public. .