A major security operation was being mounted at Drumcree Church in Co Armagh today to ensure no repeat of the violence of previous years when loyalists clashed with police.

A massive security operation was launched today as the British army moved in to fortify the surroundings of Drumcree Church in Portadown.

A RESOLUTION to the Orange Order stand-off at Drumcree will be found at some stage, a Northern Ireland police chief claimed yesterday.

PORTADOWN Orangemen have been banned from marching on the town’s flashpoint Garvaghy Road on Sunday.

Portadown Orangemen have been banned from marching on the town’s flashpoint Garvaghy Road on Sunday.

The British government will be making a grave mistake if it were to abolish the Northern Ireland Parades Commission, nationalists warned tonight.

Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid was expected to meet senior loyalists in Belfast today to discuss growing sectarian tensions in the city.

Security could be scaled down at Northern Ireland’s most bitterly disputed loyalist parade in a bid to defuse tensions which have erupted into major violence.

The British and Irish governments have been considering a review of the Northern Ireland Parades Commission as part of their package of proposals to rescue the Good Friday Agreement, it was claimed tonight.

The Northern Ireland Parades Commission was today due to issue new rulings on controversial Twelfth of July marches.

The Northern Ireland Parades Commission was due to announce today if it will overturn a ban on an Orange Order march through a nationalist area of Portadown.

The Northern Ireland Parades Commission today put on hold a decision whether or not to overturn a ban on this Sunday’s Drumcree Orange march.

David Trimble tonight called for the Drumcree Orangemen to be allowed to march down the flashpoint nationalist Garvaghy Road in Portadown.