Thousands of Orangemen have been taken part in July 12 celebrations throughout the North; there have been no reports of any trouble. RUC Chief Constable Ronnie Flanagan said that all sides had behaved responsibly. Eighteen county lodges held parades, with many speakers calling for the scrapping of the Parades Commission.
The biggest rally was at Ormeau Park in Belfast, where 20,000 people gathered. At the rally, the Grand Master of the Orange Order, Robert Saulters, warned that the organisation would not allow any district to be separated from its county parade in future. The district master of Ballynafeigh Orange Lodge, which was earlier prevented from marching down the Lower Ormeau Road, Noel Ligget, said that a resolution calling for an end to the Parades Commission was justified. The chairman of the commission, Alistair Graham, was present at the rally.
Earlier today, members of the Ballynafeigh Orange Lodge mounted an hour-long protest at the security barricade erected across Ormeau Bridge. Noel Ligget inspected the barricade and said that he was very disappointed that a five-minute parade could not have been accommodated by the residents. A letter of protest was then handed in Mr. Ligget by to RUC Inspector Stephen Grange.
Portadown hosted the biggest gathering outside Belfast. Addressing thousands of supporters there today, John McCrea, the Assistant Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Ireland, described the Commission as a government-created monster. The rally had been switched from Killylea to Portadown in support of the Drumcree protest.
