The Drumcree Church - the start of the march

Decision Day for Drumcree March

They're faced with an uncomfortable choice. In just a few hours' time, hundreds of Orangemen will march to the parish church of Drumcree.

When they leave, intending to continue past a nationalist area of town, the authorities could either seek to re-route them - something the marchers would find intolerable - or they could allow the parade to proceed, provoking an equal measure of fury among Catholic residents.

Hundreds of troops have been brought in, and they and police have mounted check-points on all roads into Portadown. Even at this late hour, it's hoped that confrontation could be avoided - but it's an increasingly forlorn hope.

Tony Blair hopes for peace

Blair: Let the "voice of reason" be heard

The Prime Minister, Tony Blair, has called for "the voice of reason" to be heard in Northern Ireland as tensions mount.

Mr Blair said the government would work to the last moment to resolve the dispute over the Drumcree parade. He said there was a "real hope and possibility for a lasting political peace in Northern Ireland."

Read BBC Ireland Correspondent
Mark Devenport's
analysis of the Ulster marching season

Mo Mowlam has to decide whether the march can go ahead, will be re-routed or should be banned. Her announcement has been put back several times, to give more time for negotiations.

Security forces move into Portadown

British soldiers and officers of the Royal Ulster Constabulary have thrown a cordon of armoured cars around Portadown in the run-up to the march.

As tensions rise extra security fources have been drafted into the town, and road blocks set up on many roads to monitor movements and prevent the influx of supporters for either side.

Mo Mowlam: trying to resolve crisis

Mowlam's plea to the Orange Order

Efforts by Mo Mowlam to broker a compromise between the Portadown Orange Lodge and the residents of the mainly Catholic Garvaghy road have failed so far. Orangemen insist on their right to march their traditional route. The Catholic residents, who support the unification of Ulster with Ireland, object to what they see as a display of 'Loyalist' triumphalism.

Following a series of meetings with Orange Order leaders on Friday, Dr Mowlam said, she recognised "that tensions in both communities are increasing and people in both communities are in need of reassurance". And she stressed that she would continue her efforts to find an accommodation "that both communities can live with".

Police officer guarding Drumcree church

Nationalist protestors on a roadside picket

To the Orange Order, she issued this appeal: "For the good of everyone and for the sake of peace in the next few weeks, I urge those in the Portadown Orange to listen to those voices of reason."

This was a clear reference to Friday's appeal by the Grand Master of the Orange Order, Robert Saulters, who said the Orangemen should waive their right to march. The suggestion was immediately rejected by the Portadown Lodge.

Nationalist residents have already set up camp alongside the Garvaghy road, and say they are determined to stop the march. They have erected fake road signs instructing marchers to re-route, and painted murals 30ft high urging marchers to stay away.

Speakers for the residents association say the Orangemen refused to talk to them about the disputed march. But senior Orange officials have now revealed that they met with two committee members of the association in June.

Bingham insists the Orange Order wants a peaceful resolution

The Rev William Bingham, Grand Chaplain to the Orange Order in County Armagh, said the marchers had agreed to meet residents' concerns by offering not to have their bands play music, to include only Portadown people and to ban all politicians from the parade.

He said everything should be done to prevent the country being plunged into "the terrors of violence and bigotry and intolerance we saw last year."

One of the BBC's correspondents in Northern Ireland, George Eykyn, says Drumcree has taken on a dangerous symbolic importance for both communities throughout Northern Ireland. Orangemen wonder what they'll have to give up next if they can't march their traditional route at Drumcree. Nationalists believe the state caved in last year under loyalist violence and the threat of it.