Six members of a masked colour party at an Irish dissident republican parade have appeared in court in Northern Ireland in connection with the illegal demonstration.
The men were arrested on Saturday at a Republican Sinn Féin rally to commemorate the 1916 Easter Rising. It is the oldest hardline faction opposed to the peace strategy of Sinn Féin and is aligned to the Continuity IRA.
At Lisburn courthouse on Monday, the six faced charges including taking part in the un-notified procession in Lurgan, County Armagh. They are also charged with wearing clothing and having articles as supporters of a proscribed, banned organisation.
There was a large police presence in the court as a detective told the judge he could connect all of the men to the charges.
The accused are Eamon Green of Belfast, Martin Conlon of Lurgan, Emmet Donnan of Belfast, Matthew O’Donnell of Derry, Gary Doherty of Lurgan and Christopher Hamill, who faces three additional charges of assaulting police.
Their supporters packed into the court and clapped and cheered after the men were granted bail.
The case will be heard again later this month at Craigavon courthouse.
Meanwhile, there was tension in Derry on Monday afternoon with a second illegal dissident republican parade about to take place.
The Derry 1916 Committee is marching through the Creggan area of the city.
Like Republican Sinn Féin on Saturday, the committee refused to apply for permission to march from the Northern Ireland Parades Commission.
Republican Sinn Féin claimed its marches were attacked by the Police Service of Northern Ireland on Saturday as the force went in to break up the rally.
The 1916 Committee said ahead of the parade that it “will not be broken” by any similar PSNI security operation.
“We have been told that Creggan will be swamped with the crown forces and the march will not be allowed to take place,” a spokesman said.
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