The first major contentious march in Belfast this season passed off mostly peacefully last night following mediation between representatives of the loyal orders and nationalist residents in Ardoyne.
A feeder parade for the Tour of the North took less than five minutes to pass a token nationalist protest at Ardoyne.
Sinn Féin's Gerry Kelly had appealed to a well-marshalled crowd to stay well back from the parade as it passed. Some missiles were thrown and one firework was set off but no one was hurt.
Roger Poole, the Parades Commission chairman, called the compromise "a major step forward for Northern Ireland".
The Rev Norman Hamilton, of the North and West Belfast Parades Forum, said progress in Northern Ireland was measured in small steps. The violence has set the tone for difficult marching seasons, especially last year when trouble was repeated on July 12th and last September when the rerouted Whiterock parade ended in a week-long series of violent incidents across the city and in south Antrim.
This year the Parades Commission, which has ruled on contentious parades since serious violence at Drumcree in 1997, helped foster dialogue between the North and West Belfast Parades Forum and the Ardoyne Parades Dialogue Group.
They agreed that a reduced loyalist parade would pass Ardoyne where a low-key nationalist protest would be mounted. The PSNI also reduced its presence.
Only local lodges passed the contentious interface known as Ardoyne shops on their way home from the main demonstration. Flags and banners were furled. Fewer than 100 marchers paraded to a single drumbeat.
Local police commander Chief Supt Gary White welcomed the agreement reached. "The issues that surround sensitive parades ... can only be resolved by the whole community engaging in meaningful dialogue and being prepared to work together to find an acceptable answer."