Portadown and Northern Ireland last night appeared set on a course of escalating civil unrest after Portadown Orangemen failed in a last-ditch attempt to reverse the ban on their parading down Garvaghy Road tomorrow.
The Parades Commission yesterday evening affirmed its ruling of Monday rerouting the Portadown brethren away from the nationalist Garvaghy Road.
Mr David Jones, spokesman for the Portadown District, would make no comment on the ruling but insisted that Orangemen would maintain their protest on the hill at Drumcree until they were allowed their parade.
Despite several appeals for compromise, up to last night there appeared no prospect of a speedy resolution of the Drumcree crisis.
However, yesterday saw a significant decrease in the level of violence and disruption. This followed a call by the grand master of the order, Mr Robert Saulters, for a postponement of all protests in memory of motorcyclist Joey Dunlop, who was buried yesterday.
The number of road closures in Belfast was well down on previous nights while on Drumcree hill the scene was relatively calm. Former UDA prisoner Johnny Adair turned up at Drumcree again last night. He said he was there simply as a "private individual" to show his support for the Orange stand.
A number of separate meetings took place in Belfast and Portadown yesterday involving the Parades Commission, the Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition and the Portadown Orangemen but despite some initial movement there was no progress.
After a week of violence, demonstrations and disruption in various parts of Northern Ireland the scene has now been set for a heightening of the protest. There are security concerns over loyalist paramilitaries carrying out acts of violence ostensibly in support of the protest. There are fears that this could trigger a republican paramilitary backlash.
Legal and political representatives of the Portadown Orange district yesterday pledged to cancel all further Drumcree demonstrations and engage with South African lawyer Mr Brian Currin's pre-mediation initiative - also involving Garvaghy residents - with a view to "full mediation" if the parade is allowed tomorrow.
They made these commitments in the name of Portadown district master Mr Harold Gracey. However, throughout the day conflicting signals and statements came from different elements of the order, signifying a general lack of direction.
By lunchtime yesterday, Mr Gracey on BBC refused to condemn the violence of the past week and insisted he would have no contact with the Garvaghy representative, Mr Breandan Mac Cionnaith.
Speaking at Drumcree, Mr Gracey said: "I am not going to condemn violence because Gerry Adams never condemns it."
The grand lodge yesterday reiterated "its total abhorrence and condemnation of violence committed in loyalist areas this week".
The Parades Commission yesterday evening affirmed its initial ruling because it believed a parade would only be possible after, and not before, the pledges on dialogue and ending the protests were met.
Mr Mac Cionnaith yesterday deplored Mr Gracey's earlier refusal to condemn the violence but acknowledged that others in the order were totally opposed to such action.
He again indicated that he saw some merit in the commission's suggestion that in the event of dialogue and an end to the protests, a parade could take place in three to eight months. "I believe the Parades Commission's determination on Monday was pointing to a third way which could possibly see the eventual resolution of this issue."
