Portadown Orangemen were urged today to hold talks with the nationalist residents of the Garvaghy Road in a bid to end the long running Drumcree parade dispute, as today's march passed off peacefully.
The annual Orange Order parade passed off without incident for the third year running today with Orangemen staging a token protest at being prevented from marching their traditional route along the Garvaghy Road. In a minor act of defiance they remained on Drumcree Hill a little after the 2.30pm dispersal time the Parades Commission had ordered.
During the church service at Drumcree, Rector the Reverend John Pickering suggested the Orangemen got into dialogue with the nationalist residents to try to solve the long running dispute. He said similar dialogue had worked in Derry recently and it was "an example to be followed elsewhere".
There was a hugely reduced security operation compared to previous years, reflecting the diminished threat of trouble. The Orange Order had urged troublemakers to stay away and they did - in fact there were little more than 100 supporters at the church compared to thousands a few years ago. There also appeared to be less Orangemen actually parading than in past years.
The parade from the centre of Portadown to Drumcree passed the top of the Garvaghy Road and as it did so bands stopped playing. Only the single beat of a drum could be heard. Less than a dozen nationalist residents stood to watch and there was no dialogue between the two sides.
New much smaller gates were put on the bridge at the bottom of Drumcree Hill to stop the parade and they were not even shut. Five police officers, with a double crush barrier in front of them stopped the parade when it made its token efforts to follow the traditional route.
Speaking during a brief protest rally, Orange Order District Master David Burrows insisted the protest would continue until they were once again allowed to follow their route. "We are not going to walk away, we will continue to protest every Sunday until our rights are restored," he said.
Police Service Divisional Commander, chief superintendent Drew Harris, declared himself satisfied with the way things had gone. "This is the third year in which we have had little or no disorder." He said the greatly reduced security operation was commensurate with what police thought the threat of violence was.
He said: "It has been significantly scaled down and normal life in the whole of Portadown has been allowed to continue pretty much uninterrupted."
He said it was a successful operation achieved in partnership with those who didn't want the parade to take place and those taking part.
However, he said it was still a substantial operation and his officers would be better employed tackling violent or drug crime.
PA