EasyJet apologises after in-flight magazine highlights Belfast's often-violent Orange Order marches as TOURIST ATTRACTIONS that are 'great to watch'

  • Low-cost airline issues apology for not spotting the contentious content
  • At this year's parades violence broke out with police and public attacked
  • A teenage girl was rescued by police officers when a car reversed onto her

By John Hutchinson for MailOnline

Published: 07:13 EST, 5 August 2015 | Updated: 08:39 EST, 5 August 2015

EasyJet has been forced to apologise after a story published in their in-flight magazine praised the frequently violent July 12 Belfast marches.

Last month 'The Twelfth' parade, commemorating the 1690 Battle of The Boyne, saw violence break out when marchers from the Orange Order clashed with nationalists.

But in the airline's Traveller magazine, one writer said: 'Hundreds of colourful parades take place across Northern Ireland on 12 July bank holiday to commemorate the 1690 Battle of the Boyne. They're great to watch, just check ahead for travel disruptions and advice.'

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EasyJet's Traveller magazine urged tourists to visit the 'colourful' parades of July 12 in Northern Ireland

EasyJet's Traveller magazine urged tourists to visit the 'colourful' parades of July 12 in Northern Ireland

Police lifted a car off a seriously injured 16-year-old girl who was hit as it reversed into the crowd after violence flared following an Orange Order parade in Belfast last month

Police lifted a car off a seriously injured 16-year-old girl who was hit as it reversed into the crowd after violence flared following an Orange Order parade in Belfast last month

Thousands of Pro-British Protestants hold marches every July 12 in the British ruled province to mark a 1690 victory by King William of Orange that sealed Protestant domination, a tradition Catholic Irish nationalists consider provocative.

Riot police fired water cannons and plastic bullets at the crowd at this year's march, after a police officer was struck and injured. 

At least eight Northern Irish police officers were injured after being pelted by bottles, beer cans, bricks and other missiles, as Protestant loyalists reacted angrily when a cordon was erected to stop the annual parade from passing a Catholic estate. 

A crowd of Catholics stood hundreds of metres away, separated from the rioters by the police cordon.

EasyJet have apologised for not spotting the lines in their 'normally rigorous editorial sign off'

EasyJet have apologised for not spotting the lines in their 'normally rigorous editorial sign off'

Thousands of Pro-British Protestants hold marches every July 12 in the British-ruled province to mark a 1690 victory by King William of Orange

Thousands of Pro-British Protestants hold marches every July 12 in the British-ruled province to mark a 1690 victory by King William of Orange

At one point a number of loyalists broke through police lines and started dancing on the bonnets of PSNI armoured land rovers.

The most worrying incident came when dozens of police officers worked together to lift a car off a seriously injured 16-year-old girl who was hit as a vehicle reversed into the crowd after violence flared following an Orange Order parade in Belfast. 

Sammy McNally, a blogger in Northern Ireland, wrote a guest piece for the blog bangordub, where he says that after reading the magazine on a flight, he filed off a complaint to easyJet.

He writes: I couldn’t help but ponder if easyJet also covered other ‘festivals’ which both ‘celebrated’ and exacerbated ethnic tensions – perhaps August’s or September’s Monthly issues covered ‘celebrations of culture’ when perhaps ethnic tensions between Serbs and Croats reaches a crescendo and tourists can enjoy the spectacle of thousands of police officers on the streets.' 

A spokesperson for easyJet told MailOnline Travel: 'We rely on an external network of writers, based in each of our destinations, to provide the recommendations for our destination guides that appear within easyJet Traveller. 

'These writers are always locally based and are respected journalists in their community and it's their expertise and on-the-ground knowledge that makes the content of our guides so useful.

'In this instance the author of our Belfast guide felt the event's inclusion was of cultural interest to our readers, however, we fully understand the sensitivities around the event and apologise for it not being spotted at our normally rigorous editorial sign off.' 

 

 

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