Marchers barred from Drumcree flashpoint

Portadown Orangemen have again been barred from marching down the nationalist Garvaghy Road during their annual Drumcree Parade.

The Parades Commission last night ruled, as it has done since its creation in 1998, that the marchers cannot use the Garvaghy Road return route from the Orangemen’s church service on Drumcree Hill.

A major security operation will again be mounted by the security forces to enforce the ruling when thousands of Orangemen gather.

However police chiefs in the Co Armagh town are expected to scale down their measures from the highs of previous years amid feelings the heat has gone out of the protest.

The commission ruled against the parade despite an 11th hour plea from Northern Ireland First Minister and MP for the Portadown area David Trimble for it to be allowed through this time.

But Mr Trimble called for calm on the streets of the North whatever the commission ruled.

The edict on Sunday’s parade came as about 2,000 Orangemen mounted their traditional ‘‘mini-Twelfth’’ parade in east Belfast.

Huge numbers of police and troops were on duty along the route and especially around the nationalist Short Strand where there have been constant sectarian clashes in recent weeks.

The parade, commemorating the Battle of the Somme, passes by the Catholic enclave where rival mobs fought gun battles last month.

In its determination on Drumcree, the Parades Commission said it believed the only way to bridge the gulf between the Orangemen and the Garvaghy residents was through mediated dialogue.

It expressed disappointment that moves taken by the Orange leadership last year were not followed up and were eventually withdrawn by the Portadown lodge.

The Commission said it was ‘‘conscious of the recent history of political and community division associated with this parade’’.

It said it had ‘‘considerable sympathy with those ordinary people in Portadown, whether unionists - who may feel angry and disappointed about an apparent lack of tolerance of their parade on the part of nationalists - or nationalists who may feel angry and disappointed about an apparent lack of respect for their feelings on the part of unionists’’.

Their determination added: ‘‘The commission understands that there are also many people who care neither way about the parade and who wish simply that a peaceful solution could be found.’’

The commission had also heard suggestions that some may wish to see the parade ‘‘not simply as a parade, but as a political tool’’, and added: ‘‘This perception makes a resolution considerably more difficult than it would otherwise be.’’

It acknowledged there had been conciliatory comments from both sides since last year, but not enough had happened for a change in the commission’s stance.

It said: ‘‘Despite these gains, there remains a gulf between what the Commission considers to be the genuinely held views of nationalists towards the Drumcree parade and what it also considers to be the genuinely held views of Orangemen about the parade and its long tradition.

‘‘This gulf can best be bridged by dialogue. The commission’s view remains that this should be mediated dialogue.’’

Portadown Orangemen condemned the Parades Commission ruling and said they would be seeking a formal review of the decision.

Portadown Deputy District Master David Burrows said the decision was a sign of the ‘‘victimisation of Northern Ireland’s unionist community’’.

He added: ‘‘If we want to give peace a chance, the Parades Commission must be abolished.’’

Meanwhile the ‘‘mini-Twelfth’’ Orange Parade through east Belfast passed off without incident last night.

Police said there had been no violence when the marchers passed the end of the nationalist Short Strand amid tight security and the Orangemen and their supporters later dispersed without trouble.