Army bomb disposal experts have carried out a controlled explosion on a suspect device left along the main parade route of the Orange Order’s 12 July march through central Belfast.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland said a security alert was being wound up around the area where the suspicious object was placed at the junction of Ormeau Avenue and the Dublin Road earlier on Tuesday.
As thousands of Ulster loyalists prepare for 18 parades across Northern Ireland to commemorate the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, the placing of a suspect device on the most famous marching route in the region will raise tensions in the city.
A PSNI spokesperson said the metal object was dropped from a car. A BBC television crew that was preparing to film the main Orange demonstration passing by later on Tuesday had to be temporarily evacuated from their vantage point for their own safety, the PSNI added.
The device turned out to be a hoax bomb and was destroyed by an army bomb disposal robot.
Police have mounted a huge security operation in North Belfast around the most contentious parading route in the region – the Crumlin Road/Ardoyne shops flashpoint.
Nationalist residents living in Ardoyne object to the sight of Ulster loyalist and Orange marchers passing by their community. Loyalists in turn say the Crumlin Road is a main arterial route that they have been using for decades to enter the city centre on loyalism’s most sacred day.
Three local Orange lodges alongside about 100 supporters are being allowed to pass by the nationalist Ardoyne on their way to join the main demonstration in Belfast city centre.
