Loyalists have reacted angrily to the Parades Commission's decision to reroute an Independent Orange Order march away from Garvaghy Road in Portadown, Co Armagh. The DUP said it was yet another concession to the IRA. However, nationalists have welcomed the announcement.
The march, due to take place on Saturday evening, was meant to pass through the lower part of Garvaghy Road which is mainly Protestant. But the commission said that in light of the current sectarian tension in the town it was likely to harm cross-community relations.
A parade by the Ancient Order of Hibernians through Kilkeel, Co Down, was allowed but restrictions were placed on the route. A DUP spokesman said: "These decisions expose the one-sided nature of the Parades Commission which operates now openly as an extension of the government and is committed to implementing a nationalist/republican agenda to the detriment of anything which is unionist or pro-British."
The spokesman said there was justifiable anger within the Protestant community and urged the British government to act decisively. "Its first step should be to instantly dissolve this iniquitous Parades Commission before it, by its actions, takes sectarianism to new and even more dangerous levels."
The DUP leader, the Rev Ian Paisley, accused the commission of acting like dictators. The Independent Orange Order also condemned the decision, and it is understood the organisation might initiate a legal challenge. However, the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition welcomed the decision as the "only just and correct one possible". A spokesman added: "It is quite clear that all right-thinking people must use their influence to ensure an end to the intolerable and continuous intimidation of nationalists in Portadown."
Meanwhile, residents in Kilkeel have condemned the decision to allow the Ancient Order of Hibernians parade to go ahead. Mr Ronald McConnell, of the Mourne Residents for Justice group, warned of the potential for trouble at the event.
"The people of Northern Ireland now see that there seems to be one rule for one religion and one rule for another. The Garvaghy Road has been banned yet Kilkeel goes ahead. The Ancient Order of Hibernians are not even from Kilkeel. They are bussed in and bussed out. Protestant culture is being trampled on all over the place."