THE SDLP leader, Mr John Hume, yesterday made an 11th hour appeal to the Bogside Residents Group to call off its planned protest on the walls of Derry this morning.
The appeal was rejected by a BRG spokesman, Mr Donnacha MacNiallais. The protest is timed to coincide with a parade around the walls by 200 local members of the Apprentice Boys of Derry.
Mr Hume's appeal followed an earlier statement from the city's RUC divisional commander, Supt Joseph McKeever. He said the Apprentice Boys' application to hold their parade was still under consideration. The August parade was postponed after the Northern Secretary, Sir Patrick Mayhew, ordered the walls to be sealed off by the security forces to avoid sectarian clashes.
"Due to the ongoing discussions by interested parties, a definite police response is not available at this time," Supt McKeever said, adding that the RUC was "extremely grateful" to those who were trying to help.
Meanwhile, Mr Hume asked both the Apprentice Boys and the BRG to approach the issue with common sense. He said "every thing should be avoided that might cause any type of confrontation. I think that the mass of the people respect the civil rights of everyone and the only qualification would be that civil rights be exercised without any form of provocation.
"Given that the Apprentice Boys are marching early in the morning and that only 200 local members will take part in a 20 minute parade, and that it will only take five minutes to march past the Bogside, I think most people believe they should be allowed to have their parade and that their rights should be respected.
"The Bogside protest is not against the parade. It is because the Apprentice Boys did not talk to the BRG. In order to ensure that there is not any trouble of any description, then, if they want to protest against not being talked to, they could do that by a public statement or at a completely different time from the march, so that any possibility of trouble would be avoided," Mr Hume said.
"We feel we have a point to make," Mr MacNiallais of the BRG said. "Our protest action will be peaceful. It must be remembered that this situation arose because the Apprentice Boys refused to negotiate. They had ample opportunity to negotiate in an atmosphere free of tension and we now face a situation of potential conflict on our streets.
"We will do our utmost to avoid that scenario developing, but the responsibility for it rests solely and entirely with the Apprentice Boys. We feel it is important for us to make our protest at the spot on the walls where there is the greatest contention, the stretch of the walls overlooking the Bogside," he said.