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An Orangeman marches at Drumcree last year
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Portadown Orangemen were urged tonight to recognise their responsibility to Northern Ireland to protest peacefully at Drumcree at the weekend.
They have condemned the Parades Commission decision to bar them for the fifth year running from marching along the nationalist Garvaghy Road in the Co Armagh town after the traditional church service on Sunday.
But as tensions mounted Church of Ireland primate Robin Eames appealed for cool heads.
In a personal statement he said: "I appeal to the Orange Order in Portadown to act with extreme dignity and caution following their attendance at the service in Drumcree, to abide by the law and to recognise the awesome responsibility on any organisation which engages in public protest in Northern Ireland at this time."
The Orangemen will hold their service in the Church of Ireland parish church on Drumcree Hill and Archbishop Eames said it was a cause of intense sadness and disappointment to him that, despite the efforts of himself and others, there remained an impasse over the Garvaghy Road stalemate.
The deputy leader of the SDLP, Bríd Rodgers, claimed the Parades Commission ban was "the right decision".
The Stormont minister and Upper Bann MLA, in whose constituency Drumcree is situated, said she was seeking assurances from police chiefs that adequate security would be in place for the march.
The police chief charged with organising the security operation pledged today his officers would move quickly to arrest troublemakers in the area on Sunday.
The Orange Order has said it intends to ask the Parades Commission to review its decision to ban them from marching down the nationalist Garvaghy Road.
Deputy District Master of the Portadown Orangemen Mr David Burrows condemned the decision, saying it symbolised the "victimisation of Northern Ireland's unionist community".
It was the fifth successive year the parade has been barred from taking this route.
Last night the Parades Commission ruled that the marchers cannot use the Garvaghy Road return route from the Orangemen's church service on Drumcree Hill.
The Commission said that despite there not being any direct contact with District Officers in the Order it is aware of "positive developments" in relation to the parade.
But in its ruling it said: "There remains a gulf between what the Commission considers to be the genuinely held views of nationalists towards the Drumcree parade and what it also considers to be the genuinely held views of Orangemen about the parade and its long tradition. This gulf can best be bridged by dialogue. The Commission's view remains that this should be mediated dialogue."
PA