Orangemen marching in Belfast

The BBC's Peter Hunt reports from Belfast Dur: 1:58

Ulster Marches Pass Off Peacefully

Tens of thousands of Orangemen took part in parades across Northern Ireland on Saturday, the most important day in the Protestant marching season. Although the marches followed

The Orange Lodges were commemorating the anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne on 12 July 1690, when a Protestant king defeated a Catholic monarch.

As the marches started, more Orange Lodges made concessions on marching routes. At Dunloy, Orangemen called off a march through a potential flashpoint area after a protest by about 200 nationalists in the village.

Celebrating July 12, 1690

Members of the local lodge met with RUC officers outside the County Antrim village. Police officers asked them not to parade through the town and after at least 15 minutes of sometimes heated discussion the Orange leaders left.

Later a letter of protest was handed to a policeman, but in the end the march was re-routed.

Paddy O'Kane, chairman of the Dunloy Residents and Parents Association, said: "We are delighted that common sense has prevailed here." He said the march should not have been allowed through, regardless of concessions made by the Orange Order for other parades. He said, "what happens in other places has absolutely nothing to do with what's happening in Dunloy. It's a separate issue."

Another potential flashpoint was the Orange march at Bellaghy, but the deputy Grand Master of the Orange Order, Robert Overend, confirmed that Orangemen would not parade back through the mainly Catholic village, in a move seen by observers as another significant concession.

Loyalist mural in Belfast, celebrating King Billy's crossing of the Boyne

The biggest parade was in Belfast city centre where Orange marchers took more than two hours to pass any one spot. Thousands of people lined the route, many sitting comfortably in deck chairs they had brought along for the day out.

On the Ormeau Bridge, in South Belfast, police and troops stood guard on the interface between the upper loyalist end of the street and lower nationalist end. On Thursday night, the Orange Lodge had announced the marchers would refrain from marching through this Catholic neighbourhood.

At Newtownbutler, County Fermanagh, the Orange parade in the village passed off peacefully after a deal brokered between them and nationalist residents by the Parades Commission last night. Cahtolic residents had agreed not to protest at the march in the morning while the Orangemen promised not to stage a parade when they returned in the evening.

Plea for unity from the Grand Master

There were scuffles and verbal abuse was hurled at local Orange leaders by Orangemen outraged at the decision. Some opposed to the move took off their Orange sashes and gloves and said they would take no part in the parade.

Others lay down in the road at the head of the procession in a token bid to prevent the parade moving off. The march was delayed for some 45 minutes.

"At such a time like this we ask for the whole-hearted support and undivided loyalty of our brethren and all those who place confidence in us."

"We must speak with one voice when what we say has its effect on the institution, the province and the Union. Remember, 'United we stand, divided we fall'."