Decision to ban Garvaghy Road march `expected'

The Portadown District Loyal Orange Lodge will not be responding in detail until later this week to the Parades Commission decision banning their parade on Sunday from going down the Garvaghy Road.

The lodges's information officer, Mr David Jones, said yesterday they would examine the decision "very carefully" and hoped to make a considered response either tomorrow or Thursday.

However, he said the decision "had been expected", following on previous years. It is the third year in a row the parade has been banned from its traditional route.

Mr Jones was particularly concerned about some of the caveats accompanying the decision, which he described as "a (Garvaghy Road) residents' charter".

He said he did not understand how the commission could conclude there had been insufficient engagement on the issue. As far as he was concerned, there had been "a high level of engagement and many meetings, at least one of which the Garvaghy Road residents walked out of."

He also noted "several inaccuracies" in the wording of the decision but did not wish to say what they were, pending a more considered response.

Commenting on Sunday night's disturbances at Drumcree, when seven RUC officers received minor injuries in clashes with youths, Mr Jones said he "very much regretted" they had taken place. But he could understand the frustration of the people involved, he said. An army vehicle was damaged during the disturbances and a youth was arrested in Portadown when found in possession of a petrol bomb.

Mr Jones said, "over the past two years, extraordinary efforts have been made to get the situation resolved but, every time, we come up against a barrier. The frustration and anger of people are at a very high level. "A community which has been largely quiet this past 30 years sees what violence has done for republicanism. They think `maybe we should try that'," he said.

While he did not agree with violence, he said he had warned the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, and the Northern Secretary, Mr Peter Mandelson, "that this sort of thing could happen".

Asked whether the speech by the Portadown District Master Mr Harold Gracey, at Drumcree on Sunday might be seen as incitement to such behaviour, he said it was "up to people to make up their own minds" about that.

Mr Gracey had appealed for supporters to take to the streets of the North in their thousands. "This battle is not about Drumcree, it's about the Orange Order. It's about the Protestant people," he said.

Mr Jones said, "we have tried all we can. Today's ruling is not a satisfactory conclusion." When people had gone through everything all they had left was protest, he said.

"And with protests, things can get out of hand. We don't want to see that, but we have to be realistic." The Portadown lodge had been quite clear about it in discussions with Mr Blair and Mr Mandelson, he indicated.

As to whether saying that could be interpreted as an implicit threat, he said that people, "can take it any way [they want]. We have explained it before. We have been accused of making threats, but we are only stating the realities," he said.

Meanwhile, parades are to take place from Portadown to Drumcree every evening this week, in the lead-up to the Orange parade on Sunday.

Permission had been granted for each parade by the Parades Commission, Mr Jones said. He did not know who would be taking part in the parades and by yesterday afternoon, he did not know who would be taking part in last night's parade.

The parades are expected to leave Portadown at approximately 7.30 every evening. There will be an address by a district officer on Drumcree hill at approximately 9 p.m.