RIGHT in the heart of Bible belt north Antrim, stronghold of the DUP and the Orange Order, nestles the village of Dunloy - nationalist and proud of it.
It is surrounded by big Protestant towns - Ballymena, Ballymoney and Coleraine. But Dunloy flaunts its difference. Tricolours fly from the lamp-posts. Posters demand the release of prisoners. "RUC Out!" read the graffiti.
Around 1,000 people live here. "The media have described us as a 90 per cent nationalist village," says a middle-aged woman, "but we're not. We're 100 per cent nationalist. There are only five Protestant families and they live well out of the village."
For years, the Orange Order marched from the Orange hall to the Presbyterian church in Dunloy via Main Street. Last summer, the residents decided it would do so no more.
North Antrim loyalists don't accept defeat easily. In retaliation, they have mounted a five-month picket on Our Lady's Catholic Church, down the road in
Harryville, Ballymena.
Around 2,000 loyalists, some of them masked, held a band parade past the church last weekend. It took a heavy RUC presence to protect Mass-goers and another massive loyalist rally will be held tonight.
As the loyalist protest intensifies, some Catholic clergy and politicians are privately urging compromise in Dunloy to end the siege of Harryville. After all, they say, a five-minute parade isn't much to ask residents to accept.
But Dunloy thinks otherwise. "No Marching This Year Boys - Ha, Ha, Ha!" has been painted on the Orange hall. Regular attacks have necessitated a corrugated iron roof and sheets of steel to protect its windows and doors. Even the burglar alarm hides behind a metal grille.
The Orange hall here is about as welcome as the Catholic church in Harryville. Most Catholics in the village feel sorry for their brethren in Harryville but insist that they are not to blame for their plight.
"Of course, my heart goes out to the poor craturs, trying to get to Mass but it's not our fault" says a woman.
"That church was regularly attacked long before we stopped Orange marches. The loyalists are just using our protest as an excuse for their sectarian behaviour. There is no real link between Harryville and Dunloy."
The presence of Dunloy Accordion Band at last Saturday's parade in Harryville has strengthened determination to ban it from the village.
"The band damaged its own case," says a woman in her 20s. "It's now seen as not just a group of musicians playing hymns but as an anti-Catholic body."
Loyalists can stay outside Our Lady's "until they're blue in the face", another resident says. "They are attempting to hold us to ransom. They have beaten us into a corner but a rat in a corner is a very dangerous animal, it fights back."
Dunloy and Ballymena Catholics might be only 10 miles apart but they are vastly different. Ballymena Catholics are mainly white-collar workers and professionals. They seem more moderate and reserved.
Dunloy is a small, closely-knit rural community where Gaelic sports and line-dancing are the most popular pursuits. It is militantly nationalist with no major Sinn Fein-SDLP split. People are defiant and outspoken.
They complain that for years - Orange marches caused disruption and violence. "We were imprisoned in our own homes for hours," says a man.
"The police would cordon off the village. They could be very heavy-handed. They made a young fellow returning from hospital in a taxi get out and walk to his house even though he was still seriously ill.
The marches also cost local businesses trade because the place was shut off for five or six hours. Shops that would lift maybe £250 would make nothing.
The problem is exacerbated because the marchers aren't from Dunloy, a woman says. "The nearest lives six or seven miles away. If they were from the village, it would be totally different. But they're strangers to us. Would they let us march with a Hibernian band through their towns?"
59 far there have been no negotiations between both sides in Dunloy. The Orange Order won't meet the residents' group but the residents are in contact with the Mediation Network. Possible compromises are believed to include reducing the number of parades from eight to two every year, minus bands, or rerouting marchers along a country path, away from Main Street.
But SDLP councillor Charlie O'Kane believes Orangemen will not readily embrace such solutions. "They will be reluctant to accept them because the whole aim of the marchers is to keep their feet at Catholic throats.
He claims the DUP does not want to resolve the matter because "it's election year and Paisley needs an issue to fight in his own constituency." He says the DUP is manipulating local Orangemen into a hard-line stance and that the party wants the RUC to force through a march.
"If that happens, there are people who would burn the Protestant church to the ground," says one resident. "If they try to parade against our wishes, we would put burning barricades on the road and set fire to any Orange bastard who tried to cross.
"For far too long, we lay down and they walked over us. Well, those days are over. Now our attitude is the same as theirs - not an inch and no surrender."