NORTHERN IRELAND was stretched on a rack of tension and uncertainty as it faced the crucial Eve of Twelfth test today, with the Drumcree stand-off still deadlocked and road and rail traffic again paralysed overnight.
Belfast endured a third successive night of hijackings and burning of vehicles, barricaded streets and bridges, confrontations across police and British army lines, and incessant Orange parades in the north, south and east of the city.
Rioting developed in north Belfast late last night and police fired plastic baton rounds. There were reports that the RUC were coming under attack as they escorted Catholic families who were being intimidated from their homes by loyalist gangs.
Belfast, which became virtually a ghost town when all city-centre businesses closed down after 4 p.m., was bracing itself for a further frenzy of civil unrest and destruction as darkness fell.
Meanwhile, thousands of Orangemen from Tyrone, Belfast and Fermanagh were pouring into the almost medieval battlefield scene at Drumcree, near Portadown, Co Armagh. The impression was growing that this was a build-up for a major - and inevitably bloody - confrontation today with police and troops, who have sealed off the nationalist Garvaghy Road area.
At Drumcree, fears were mounting late last night that another attempt would be made during the night to breach the RUC barbed-wire barricade around the Garvaghy Road area.
During the afternoon a large mechanical digger was driven to the Orangemen's side of the barricade. Armour-plating was attached to the cab and a banner was placed on it bearing the message "No surrender 1996".
As tension heightened across the North, the Catholic Primate, Cardinal Cahal Daly, commented: "The potential of this is really catastrophic."
The first contingents of an additional two battalions of British troops assigned to the North to boost security arrived at Aldergrove Airport late last night. The troops, from the 1st Battalion of the Parachute Regiment, will be joined shortly by an additional 650 soldiers.
There was massive traffic disruption across the North again last night. Access routes to Belfast and scores of other major towns were sealed off by Orangemen.
The A1 portion of the main Dublin-Belfast road was again blocked at Loughbrickland. Because of a security alert between Lurgan and Portadown, the Dublin-Belfast rail service ran only as far as Dundalk for most of the day, with passengers conveyed by bus for the rest of the journey.
Access to the M3 and M5 motorways was blocked on the outskirts of Belfast. The rail service between Belfast and Derry was suspended. All of the towns and villages hit by blockades on Monday and Tuesday night were again cut off.
In a surprise move, the UVF called on all those involved in burning and wrecking to desist immediately, but its demand had no apparent effect. The paramilitary organisation also reiterated that its ceasefire was still in place.
The Belfast Fire Service said that the last 24 hours had stretched it to the limit and had been the busiest period for call-outs in the last 25 years.
The RUC reported that there had been 87 arrests during disturbances since last Sunday. There had been more than 450 attacks on police and about 330 plastic baton rounds had been fired.
Up to 90 civilians and 50 police officers were reported injured in the three nights of disturbances. More than 100 incidents of intimidation were recorded, and that number was soaring last night.