A parade by thousands of UDA members down the Shankill Road on Saturday passed off quietly. The march included masked members of the UFF, a cover name for the UDA.
As many as 15,000 UDA members, headed by about 100 masked and uniformed men and 16 bands, took part in the parade. Shops along the road closed and put up shutters for the duration of the parade but no violence was reported.
The march was held to commemorate a senior UDA member killed during last summer's loyalist feud.
Mr Jackie Coulter (46), father of four children, and his friend Mr Bobby Mahood were shot dead by the UVF last August.
The killings were the most bloody incident in a feud which erupted after a violent clash between the paramilitary groups at a UDA parade. One other man was killed and hundreds forced from their homes during the feud.
However, in recent months loyalist groups have held talks to resolve the dispute and dissidents such as the Loyalist Volunteer Force, whose presence sparked off the violence last year, were asked to keep away from this year's parade.
The original clash took place as the parade passed the Rex Bar, a UVF stronghold on the Shankill, and on Saturday there was a heavy RUC and British army presence around the bar and along the whole length of the Shankill Road.
UDA members travelled from all over Northern Ireland to attend the event, with large numbers coming from the northwest.
When the parade returned to the UDA-controlled Lower Shankill estate, Mr Coulter's widow and son watched as wreaths were laid in what is set to become an annual ceremony.
Mr John White, chairman of the Ulster Democratic Party which has links with the UDA, said the parade would go a long way to healing divisions on the Shankill.
"Certainly last year was a terrible episode in the history of loyalism," he said. "But I think that sense of community that we did lose last year is starting to surface again here in the Shankill and people are coming together."
He said: "I believe that this parade will reinforce that the sense of community that always prevailed in the Shankill is starting to come back again."