The Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, last night issued a statement supporting the stance of the Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition in opposing tomorrow's Orange Order parade from Drumcree Church through the nationalist Garvaghy Road. He called for rerouting of the march away from the Garvaghy Road, describing the order's position as "domination by unionism and Orangeism over nationalism".
Referring to the order's refusal to talk to the Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition on the grounds that its spokesman, Mr Breandan Mac Cionnaith, had been imprisoned in relation to an IRA bomb attack on Portadown in 1981, Mr Adams said that the residents had the right to choose their representatives.
His party had sought an accommodation, but it was the Orange Order which had refused to talk and was "threatening force against the beleaguered community".
Mr Adams continued: "This is an issue of rights, an issue of equality. This is a small nationalist community. The Orange march on the Garvaghy Road is not about religious tolerance, but about intolerance. The stand by the Garvaghy Road residents is not a threat to the religious rights of the Orange Order. The church service is unaffected.
"If the Orange Order wishes to march along this route, it needs to talk directly to the Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition. The residents have consistently publicly stated their willingness to pursue such a dialogue."