Marching Season Starts in Ulster - With Hope and Violence

The head of the Orange order in Northern Ireland is to have talks with nationalist residents from Portadown to try to avert a repetition of last year's confrontation at Drumcree.

The announcement came after a loyalist crowd was forced to abandon a march through the mainly catholic village of Dunloy in county Antrim.

The meeting has been arranged by the leader of the SDLP, John Hume, but tonight the stand-off in Dunloy turned to violence this evening after a day of uneasy calm.

Trouble flared in Dunloy when police tried to disperse the loyalist crowd after they were forced to abandon their march through the village. Bricks and bottles were thrown as up to a hundred officers drove the crowd back. At least one Orangeman has been injured in the confrontation.

A brief statement from the SDLP said that Mr Hume had met the grand master of the Orange Order, Robert Saulters. They'd agreed that Mr Hume would convene a meeting between Mr Saulters, other members of the Orange order and the Garvaghy Road residents association.

The annual July march at Drumcree takes one route to a Church of Ireland church for a service, but the return route goes through the Catholic Garvaghy Road area.

The march for the last two years has seen a stand off between Orangemen and police and violence once involving marchers, and last year residents when the ban on the parade was reversed.

In the SDLP statement, Mr Hume said the planned meeting was a very significant breakthrough and that he hoped that all the participants would approach it in a positive frame of mind.

Merely arranging the meeting is a considerable step. A resolution reached at Drumcree which sticks would be a major breakthrough. A deal at Drumcree could transform the whole nature of the marching season which so divided Northern Ireland last summer.