The annual Drumcree parade and protest passed off peacefully yesterday as the PSNI and British army gear up to cover tomorrow's July Twelfth contentious parades, particularly the march past the Ardoyne shops in north Belfast tomorrow night.
For the eighth year in succession the police, implementing a Parades Commission ruling, prevented Portadown Orangemen parading down the nationalist Garvaghy Road from Drumcree church yesterday afternoon.
Orangemen staged what largely amounted to a token protest at the barrier at Drumcree bridge that blocked them from proceeding to the Garvaghy Road. But the protest was peaceful and after prayers and speeches the Orangemen dispersed.
The security focus now turns to tonight's Eleventh Night bonfires in various loyalist areas of Northern Ireland and to tomorrow's annual Twelfth of July parades throughout the North.
The biggest gathering will be in Portadown tomorrow where police hope the peaceful, almost relaxed nature of yesterday's Drumcree parade and protest will set the tone for tomorrow's big parade.
Orangemen are also marching on the nationalist west bank of Derry City and again after a local accommodation between the Orange Order and local nationalists the hope is that that too will conclude without serious incident.
There is concern over tomorrow morning's feeder parades onto the nationalist Springfield Road at Whiterock in west Belfast and the morning feeder parade by the Ardoyne shops.
The biggest anxiety, however, is over tomorrow night's return parade past the Ardoyne shops, the scene of serious trouble last year.
With no local agreement between Orangemen and nationalists a huge security operation is expected at the shops tomorrow evening as Orangemen and supporters return home.
Police and community leaders will draw some comfort from yesterday's Drumcree parade ending peacefully.
Numbers attending and supporting the parade were again down, with about 500 people participating yesterday.
Most noticeable was the low level of security at Drumcree and around Portadown, although the police and army had contingency plans for any sudden eruption.
A security gate and some crash barriers rather than the usual large steel security structure were placed at Drumcree bridge yesterday, while in the fields around the scene there was just barbed wire separating Orangemen from the nationalist Garvaghy Road area.
Drumcree rector the Rev John Pickering, who conducted the annual Battle of the Somme commemoration service in the church, suggested that Orangemen must adopt "vision" and learn from the example of Derry where accommodation was reached this year.
Derry could serve as an example of how to deal with Drumcree and other contentious parades, he said. "Why not elsewhere, why not here?" he asked.
After parading to the barrier Orangemen were prevented by police from proceeding further.
