Two RUC officers and a number of civilians were injured after Orange Order parades in Portadown last night. The first officer was struck by a bottle as thousands of Orangemen assembled near the nationalist Garvaghy Road for four separate rallies in the town. Later, a second officer and several civilians were injured when police and loyalists clashed on Drumcree Hill. The clashes came after thousands of Orangemen from all over the North attended four separate 12 of July rallies in the County Armagh town, which passed off relatively peacefully.
Yesterday, Nationalist community leaders and representatives from the Orange Order appealed for calm following The Independent Parades Commission's decision to allow marches in Portadown town centre, at Drumcree Church, at Corcrain Orange Hall and at the lower end of the Garvaghy Road. It was feared that trouble would erupt as the parades came a week after a loyalist pipe bomb killed Portadown grandmother Elizabeth O'Neill in her home.
