Disputed Parade Passes off Peacefully in N.IrelandA controversial Protestant Orange parade passed off peacefully on Sunday amid tight security in County Armagh, Northern Ireland.On Sunday, Orangemen made a verbal protest over a ban on the Drumcree parade from passing through a nationalist area in County Armagh. Members walked to a huge security barrier after attending a church service and protested over the ban by the Northern Ireland Parades Commission. The parade has been barred from marching down the mainly nationalist Garvaghy Road, near Portadown, for the fourth consecutive year. The Orangemen wanted to use the route on their return journey from a Somme Commemoration service at Drumcree Parish Church, but the march is opposed by nationalist residents. A huge steel and concrete security barrier had been put in place to prevent the Orangemen from proceeding down the Garvaghy Road. Last year, province-wide protests in support of the Orangemen led to widespread disruption as roads were blocked and loyalist rioting marked several nights of violence. However, the atmosphere throughout the day was calm as more than 2,000 Orangemen began their annual parade from Carleton Street on Sunday morning and moved countryward along the Corcrain Road, to the hill at Drumcree. They then attended the church service where a letter was read out from the Church of Ireland Primate Lord Eames, in which he appealed for any protest to be "lawful and dignified." Then about 200 Orangemen walked down to the security barrier and a senior member of Portadown Orange Lodge made an official complaint to the police. The march has been accompanied by disturbances every year since 1995, and has often led to violence in the rest of Northern Ireland. |
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