Last year's Apprentice Boys' march in Londonderry

Police Re-Route Protestant Marches

Police in Northern Ireland have told the loyalist Apprentice Boys organisation that it cannot hold three marches through nationalist areas next weekend.

The RUC is worried about protests from nationalist residents at Bellaghy, Co. Londonderry; Dunloy, Co. Antrim and along the lower Ormeau Road in South Belfast.

There is still no agreement yet on the route of the Apprentice Boys' biggest parade, in Londonderry on Saturday.

Nationalists in the Bogside area of the city had said they would be prepared to call off demonstrations provided the Apprentice Boys did not march through those three areas.

Talks involving the two sides as well as Derry's Mayor, Martin Bradley, John Hume - leader of the majority nationalist party, the SDLP - and members of the Northern Ireland Parades Commission broke up on Monday without agreement.

The Apprentice Boys and the other main loyalist marching organisation, the Orange Order, date back to the 18th century. Both were associations of Protestants set up to commemorate famous victories by Protestant forces in the 1680s and '90s.

The Apprentice Boys of Derry take their name from the 13 boys who closed the gates of Londonderry against King James's army in 1688, after which the city withstood an eight-month seige.