Orange parade passes without incident

The controversial Orange Order parade in west Belfast has passed more than a thousand nationalist protestors on the Springfield Road.

Hundreds of riot police and British soldiers were on duty in the area in anticipation of violence, but none was reported. The loyalist marchers threw some missiles at the nationalist protestors, but there are no reported injuries.

The RUC had a water cannon on standby in the area in anticipation of clashes between the nationalsists and loyalists.

There were fears that loyalist paramilitaries would use the parade as a reason to attack nationalists.

However, the only trouble was some missiles being thrown at the protestors after the parade had passed.

Nationalist residents representative Francis McAuley demanded to know why loyalists were allowed to attack the peaceful protestors.