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Number limit for Drumcree parade Drumcree parade passes peacefully
(40 minutes later)
No more than 1,000 people may take part in a march at Drumcree, the Parades Commission has ruled. The Drumcree parade, limited by the Parades Commission to no more than 1,000 people this year, has passed without incident.
Its meeting came after the High Court told it to reconsider its decision not to restrict the parade on Saturday. Five hundred Orangemen and 75 bandsmen took part in the march.
The march was arranged to mark 3,000 days since Orangemen were barred from marching along the mainly nationalist Garvaghy Road in Portadown. The parade moved from Portadown to Drumcree Church of Ireland, marking 3,000 days since it was banned from the mostly nationalist Garvaghy Road.
Upper Bann Democratic Unionist MP David Simpson gave a speech urging nationalists to allow the parade.
'Live and let live'
"Isn't it time for you to leave behind those who have sought to use you to prevent progress, isn't it time to bring down the curtain on those who seek to keep communities apart?" he asked.
"Isn't it time to say live and let live? We believe it so and we would urge you to throw off the shackles of Brendan Mac Cionnaith and the other outriders of Sinn Fein/IRA's vision of sectarian conflict and division."
Sinn Fein's assemblyman for the area, John O'Dowd, watched the parade and said he was glad there was no violence.
"There were people shouting out about Mickey Bo in a reference to the sick sectarian murder of the Ballymena teenager, but apart from that they appeared to comply with the Parades Commission ruling," he said.
"The order needs to recognise that they have to sit down and talk to residents. Three thousand days of protest won't solve this issue for them."
SDLP nationalist assemblywoman Dolores Kelly was also in attendance, and said the commission's restrictions had come very late.
Contentious route
The High Court had told the Parades Commission to reconsider its decision not to restrict the parade on Saturday.
The number of 1,000 was originally stated by the Orange Order in their application.The number of 1,000 was originally stated by the Orange Order in their application.
David Jones, a spokesman for the Portadown lodge said the determination was "disappointing" and that he felt the Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition had a "veto concerning parades commission decisions".
GRRC spokesman Brendan MacCionnaith said residents were sticking to their decision not to hold a protest.
"Hopefully the Orange Order's right to have a march will be satisfied and the rights of our community to live free from sectarian harassment will be upheld," he said.
The chairman of the commission, Roger Poole, said they were not "giving in" to residents.
"We're not giving in to any party - what we are trying to do is resolve parading disputes," he said.
"Quite frankly it doesn't do us, or the people of Northern Ireland, any good at all for us to be sat in here a few hours before a parade is due to take place talking about these things.
"What is needed is for the Portadown Number One Lodge and the residents in Portadown to sit down, face to face, and have a discussion about these difficult issues."
Mr Justice Weatherup told the High Court on Friday that Portadown District Lodge on its website had called for Orange Order members throughout Northern Ireland to join the march.
But he said the Parades Commission had been told there was no general appeal for support when it made its decision.
He said the commission had been "given an ill-founded assurance".
Contentious
The High Court ruling came after the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition challenged the commission's ruling on the parade at Drumcree Hill.
Each July, the Portadown Orange Lodge attends a service at Drumcree church to commemorate the anniversary of the Battle of the Somme.
Since 1998, their homeward route has been blocked by the security forces, following a determination by the Parades Commission.Since 1998, their homeward route has been blocked by the security forces, following a determination by the Parades Commission.
The parade has been marked by serious violence in the past, but it has passed off peacefully in the last three years.The parade has been marked by serious violence in the past, but it has passed off peacefully in the last three years.
The march has been one of Northern Ireland's most contentious. The route was last used by Orangemen in 1997.The march has been one of Northern Ireland's most contentious. The route was last used by Orangemen in 1997.
The Parades Commission was set up in 1997 to make decisions on whether controversial parades should be restricted.The Parades Commission was set up in 1997 to make decisions on whether controversial parades should be restricted.