Senior police officers are trying to frighten Orangemen in east Belfast out of making new parade applications, it was claimed today.
As top officers prepared for a meeting with angry marchers in the city, a Policing Board representative accused them of running a vendetta.
The DUP's Sammy Wilson said: "There are a couple of senior officers who are intent on persecuting the Orangemen. . . . It's almost become Gestapo-like tactics."
The order's fury has risen since their leaders in east Belfast were interviewed by police last month over a Twelfth of July demonstration.
District Master Raymond Spiers and two other senior officers were questioned under caution about flags being carried with their procession and one of the accompanying band's uniforms.
The men were also questioned about why "The Sash" was played during part of the parade, an Order spokeswoman said.
A file has since been sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions. Orangemen are expected to express their opposition at a District Policing Partnership meeting on Wednesday.
The Orange Order confirmed it would be challenging senior officers to explain their actions when nationalists in north Belfast's Ardoyne rioted on the same night.
"Nobody is saying if we have broken the law we shouldn't face some form of prosecution," the spokeswoman said. "But there was a huge amount of violence in the Ardoyne that night where they were beating the hell out of the Army.
PA