A LOYALIST band parade went ahead in Lurgan, Co Armagh, on Saturday night despite a sit down protest by nationalist demonstrators.
The protesters gathered in William Street in at attempt to prevent the loyalist parade entering the Wakehurst estate. More than 30 of them sat on the road to block traffic and refused to move when the RUC issued a warning.
At 7.15 p.m. a senior RUC officer approached the group and asked them to clear the road. About 30 RUC officers then moved in to carry the demonstrators off the road. At 8 p.m., when the protesters had been moved behind a barricade of police Land Rovers, four bands, led by the Craigavon Protestant Boys Flute Band, paraded into the Wakehurst estate.
Several residents in the estate closed their blinds in a silent protest as the bands passed through the area.