Violence expected as parades take place

There will be parades all across the North today as Orangemen commemorate the Battle of the Boyne.

The parades take place in the wake of reports of violence in the Portadown area during which 19 RUC officers were injured.

The RUC used water cannons and batons to separate the crowds of rioters around the Edgarstown area.

Elsewhere, members of a battalion of the UFF fired a volley of shots and made a speech as a show of strength in front of television cameras at one of the bonfires in Belfast.

The RUC has been forced to defend the actions of their officers as a necessary move.