Paisley: march must go ahead

Unionist Leader Demands RUC Protection for Orangemen

Following the failure of talks to find an agreement between Orangemen and nationalist residents the Democratic Unionist Party leader said that was the only way of resolving the dispute. Despite the nationalist reaction if the parade were forced through, Mr Paisley said the Government had to establish "for all time" the right of people to walk the Queen's highway.

"I want as a British subject to hear the Government saying firmly the Orangemen have an inalienable right to march to Drumcree and back again. They have been doing it for years and no one can take that right away from them." Mr Paisley said it was the duty of the police to guarantee their right to do so.

He warned that people had to be realistic about what would happen, there would be a reaction "some sort of protest" if the parade was not allowed to go ahead. At the very least there would be a real sourness among the Protestant population.

Alliance Party leader, Lord Alderdice, urged the Orangemen to agree - compromise even at this late stage. He said that they should ask themselves whether plunging the province into ever greater difficulties was in the best interests of what Orangemen claimed to hold dear. "I think Orangemen need to sit down and think whether or not this particular struggle is worth the candle."

Mo Mowlam: considering ban

The Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam is to hold more talks in the days ahead with the Orange Order and Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition to try to defuse the situation. The Northern Ireland Office insist she has not yet made up her mind whether the parade should go ahead or not if there is no local agreement. A spokesman dismissed a report that she had already decided the parade would be forced down the road whatever the opposition. However the security forces are believed to consider that the republican backlash to the parade going ahead would be more easily contained than a loyalist protest to it being banned.

On Sunday afternoon the police will try to enforce a ban on an Orange Order parade passing through the nationalist Lower Ormeau Road area of south Belfast. A re-routing order has already been served on the organisers and it is expected they will not try to challenge it. Instead the Orangemen plan a religious service at police lines and then dispersing, said Noel Liggett, district master of the Ballynafeigh Orange Lodge.

The parade and service are to commemorate the Battle of the Somme.~ "We are not setting out to cause trouble, especially when you consider what we are commemorating. It's not our intention to have a stand-off. Usually we would stay a period of time to protest but on this occasion, because of the fact that it's about the Battle of the Somme, we will return to the Orange Hall when the service finishes," said Mr Liggett.