Tension mounts in Drumcree as protests continue

A tense situation has developed in Drumcree tonight, as about 400 local Loyalist protestors have returned to Drumcree Hill. The crowd continues to protest at the barrier on Drumcree Bridge, over the Parades Commission's ban on the Orange Order marching down the mainly Nationalist Garvaghy Road. Full night time security is on alert.

In the Loyalist Corcraine area of the town, a car was set on fire but the blaze was quickly put out. The South African mediator, Brian Curran, who has been trying to broker a deal between Portadown Orangemen and Garvaghy Road residents, said that he was confident the dispute could be resolved.

The annual Orange Order parade at Drumcree in County Armagh passed off peacefully today. Hundreds of Orangemen walked to a huge security barrier after attending the annual church service, and made a verbal protest after being refused entry to the Garvaghy Road for a fourth consecutive year. They handed over a letter of protest to a senior RUC officer. Their march to the church passed all the potential flashpoints along its outbound route without incident, in what was a low-key march compared to previous years.

There were calls for the Parades Commission to resign but there were also pleas from the Grand Master of the Orange Lodge of Ireland, Roberts Saulters, for peaceful dispersal. The steel barricade was opened briefly to allow the Orangemen to verbally protest to a senior RUC officer. District Secretary Nigel Dawson told an officer who came to the door in the structure to remove the barrier to allow the marchers to return to the Orange hall by the route taken for over 200 years. The protest was unsuccessful and the gates were slammed shut.

In a security operation valued at £6 million, the RUC and the British Army had also placed barbed wire and razor wire in the fields surrounding the church in Drumcree. Prior to the parade the Deputy District Master, David Burrows, told Orangemen that they should ignore any provocation which they might meet on the road. During the church service the rector of the parish church, Rev John Pickering, highlighted the barrier and heavy security presence.

He said: "The barrier on the road at the bridge beyond the church seems to many people to be saying in a very visual manner that this is the end of the road for the Orangemen and the end of the road for Northern Ireland. But this barrier need not be saying we are at any end in the life of our country. There is life and hope for all of us in this area and this country. This hope is by trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, who can give us the right relationship with God and our fellow man and find the peace and stability for the days to come and forever."

Meanwhile, British Army bomb disposal experts examining three suspect devices in Maghera in County Derry have declared them to be elaborate hoaxes. The devices found at the town's Orange Hall disrupted an Orange parade. A number of houses were evacuated.