Orangemen promise peaceful march

Portadown Orangemen today pledged to remain peaceful as they set off on Northern Ireland’s volatile loyalist parade.

With a huge security operation in place to deal with any violence at Drumcree on the outskirts of the County Armagh town, all sides were confident there would be no repeat of previous years’ clashes.

For a fifth year running the Orange Order has been banned from walking along the Catholic Garvaghy Road after attending a service at Drumcree Church.

But marchers insisted they did not want confrontation.

As he set off from the Orangemen’s Carleton Street headquarters, Deputy District Master David Burrows said the order just wanted a peaceful parade and protests at the police barricade.

‘‘All we are looking for here is mutual respect, we are not looking at anything more for one community against another,’’ he said.

But loyalist fury at the Northern Ireland Parade Commission decision to block their route remained undiminished.

District Secretary Nigel Dawson slammed the body as an undemocratic, un-elected quango.

Referring to the commissions chief he said: ‘‘Tony Holland does not need to tell the Orangemen of Northern Ireland how to pray in church on a Sunday morning.’’

Accompanied by an accordion band, crowds of supporters lined the Portadown streets as the marchers made their way to Drumcree.

More than 2,000 police officers and soldiers have been drafted into keep the peace.

But hopes were high that there would be no attacks on security lines by loyalists opposed to the ruling.

Northern Ireland Acting Chief Constable Colin Cramphorn added his voice to the growing confidence that the day would pass off without major incident.

He said: ‘‘We have come through a number of contentious marches over the last fortnight with remarkably little difficulty and it’s my hope that this should continue through the remainder of the marching season.’’

The Orangemen passed by the top end of the Garvaghy Road where plastic shields had been erected to keep them out.

Loyalists on one side of the road applauded the marchers while around 100 nationalists outside St John the Baptist Chapel on the other side of the see-through barriers stood silent.

Northern Ireland First Minister David Trimble, Ulster Security Minister Jane Kennedy and the local police commander, Assistant Chief Constable Stephen White, all expressed hopes and expectations that the event which has often been a flashpoint for a summer of violence, would be calm.

Their hopes were reflected in a new style policing operation - while ready for anything, it was at a more restrained level than in past years.

Nevertheless Army engineers moved in at lunchtime yesterday to set up barriers.

But the blockade across the bridge below the hilltop Drumcree Church where the Orangemen will be halted is much less imposing than in previous years.

Razor wire has again been strung across the fields beside the bridge to prevent any effort to outflank the barrier - but again at a lower level than in past years.

Around the town police and army checkpoints have sprung up and all motorists entering were stopped and checked.

Ms Kennedy visited Drumcree for a personal look at the security measures yesterday afternoon.

While looking over the barrier blocking the road below Drumcree Church she unexpectedly came upon, and had a brief conversation with, David Burrows, the deputy district master of the Portadown Orangemen, who had also gone to inspect the scene.

Afterwards Ms Kennedy said she was very hopeful calm would be the order of the day.

She said she was ‘‘very confident’’ that so long as the dispute, which she described as ‘‘essentially a dispute between neighbours’’, was working towards resolution, and the day would pass peacefully.

Ms Kennedy said it was an important time of year for many people in Northern Ireland which created tensions but appealed for everyone to remain calm.

Calling for a peaceful demonstration she said: ‘‘If people want to protest that is their right, let’s see it is calm and dignified.’’

Despite the huge security operation, Mr White is hopeful that the violence of recent years will not be repeated.

He said he was mounting ‘‘less warlike’’ security precautions. ‘‘I want it to be like a civic policing operation.’’

As far back as February he set the Royal Engineers the challenge of coming up with a range of security measures - from the heavy of past years to ‘‘something much more light and flexible.’’

It is the light and flexible he is going with and much of his huge force will be held in reserve.

But if trouble does break he is ready to step up the security operation. The massive old concrete filled steel barrier used in recent years has been taken back to the town. Freshly painted it is being kept down a lane ready to be moved into place if needed. Water cannon will also be on hand.

But he told PA News: ‘‘It is unlikely there is going to be a lot of violence.’’

He said intelligence reports, and public comments from the paramilitaries, indicated that ‘‘they don’t want to get involved, and I hope there will be no reason for them to’’.

What would happen today would be ‘‘a lawful organisation having a lawful protest about a lawful determination - there is no need for paramilitary involvement’’.

Mr Trimble, the local MP, appealed for calm and no violence at the parade and afterwards.

‘‘I know it is the desire of the Portadown District for things to be conducted peacefully.

‘‘I am sure we all hope that will be the case and that anybody who wants to come and support the Portadown District will do so and that there will be no violence,’’ he said.

Mr White, surveying the security measures put in place, said: ‘‘People expect to see police dealing robustly with any law breaking, expect to see police protect life and property, but also to facilitate legal protest.’’

In past years Drumcree has been the spark that has lit the fuse on summer weeks of street violence.

There appears to be a different mood this year across a province wearied by the ritual of summer violence. But Mr Trimble said what happened as the summer progressed would rest largely with the paramilitaries.

‘‘It depends on the paramilitaries. If they want to hot up the interfaces then we will have difficulties.

‘‘If they want to behave responsibly and cool things down, then we won’t have violence. It depends primarily on the paramilitaries,’’ he said.

There could be spontaneous outbreaks of trouble, but without the support of the paramilitaries there would not be serious trouble, he predicted.

‘‘So the question is , what do the paramilitaries intend? ‘‘It was clear over recent months that they wanted to hot the situation up, I hope they have had second thoughts on that.’’

Portadown Orange Order spokesman David Jones refused to comment on the security operation mounted at Drumcree. ‘‘That’s purely an operational matter for the police,’’ he said.

But he insisted that anyone wanting to cause trouble would not be helped by Orangemen to achieve their goal.

‘‘When we go down that road it will be in a dignified manner. It would be ludicrous for people to think we are going to storm whatever barriers are put up.’’

As the Orangemen made their way through Portadown, a small crowd gathered on Drumcree Hill ready for the annual Battle of the Somme service.

Many took the opportunity to stroll down the hill from the church to the new-style police barrier blocking the Orange parade’s route to the nationalist Garvaghy Road.

Less than 7ft high and painted with yellow and black stripes, the barrier is a far cry from that used in past years.

Women took the opportunity to plaster the barrier with posters declaring ‘‘Decommission the Parade’s commission. The future is bright, the future is Orange.’’

Mr Trimble, the area’s MP, was singled out for attack. They used his name to spell out the message, ‘‘Traitor, Received International Money Betraying Loyalist Electorate,’’ a clear reference to the monies received when he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize jointly with former SDLP leader, John Hume.

Union flags, Ulster flags and an Orange Order one declaring, ‘‘Here we stand, we can do no other - civil and religious liberty’’, fluttered over the protest base they set up below the church.

From the church side of the barrier few members of the security forces could be seen in the fields. Behind two rows of razor wire steel screens 6ft high running for several hundred yards across country blocked any view of the police and troops mounting a security operation.

There was an air of calm resignation that the parade was being halted.

But one disgusted Orangeman looking over the barricades, said: ‘‘If this was happening anywhere else in the UK, a peaceful parade being stopped from walking down the road, there would be an outcry. It’s a denial of human rights.’’

With numbers clearly down on previous years Brid Rodgers, the nationalist SDLP Assembly member for the area, insisted Protestants could no longer impose their will on Catholics in Portadown.

She said: ‘‘Drumcree is a dispute between neighbours, and the only way to resolve it is by sitting down and talking and showing equal respect.

‘‘There will be no domination of one community over another, hopefully those days are over.’’

Hard-line Orangeman Mark Harbison, who has become an increasingly prominent figure at the Drumcree protests, called for the order’s leadership to resign because they were not in Portadown supporting the stand-off.

He said: ‘‘It’s disgraceful that the Grand Orange Lodge are in Belfast today instead of standing shoulder to shoulder with their brethren here.’’

Mr Harbison also revealed plans to start a pressure group within the Orange Order similar to the disbanded Spirit of Drumcree body.

‘‘I know there’s very serious consideration and talk of it being re-activated,’’ he said.

During his sermon, the Reverend John Pickering, Rector of Drumcree Parish, made reference to the continuing stand-off each year outside his church.

He said Drumcree ‘‘unfortunately has become a symbol of division and conflict’’.

He added: ‘‘Trust in Christ is the answer to all our problems. I believe that Drumcree can become a symbol of healing and agreement by the power of Christ.’’