The Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, Dr Trevor Morrow, last night called on the Orange Order to call off its protest at Drumcree. He said it was clear that the protest was out of control and demanded that the order's leadership take immediate action.
"The protests that have been called and summoned by the leadership of the Orange Order are quite evidently out of control. It is also evident that those who have called for and organised these protests cannot escape the responsibility for their actions. What we are doing, in fact, is to call on the leadership of the Orange Order to call them off immediately," said Dr Morrow.
Meanwhile, senior Orange officials met in Belfast last night. The order's grand master, Mr Robert Saulters, said the recent violence was damaging the Orange institution and appealed for calm.
"We have asked people to stage a peaceful protest. That is the only way in which they can help the Orange Order, not by going out and causing mayhem in the street. These people are damaging the Orange Order and we would ask them to cease immediately."
Mr Morrow's plea to the order is seen as important since a large number of Orangemen are members of the Presbyterian Church.
Meanwhile, signs of divisions within the Orange Order came last night as violence and demonstrations related to the Drumcree parade continued to escalate across Northern Ireland.
The RUC Chief Constable, Sir Ronnie Flanagan, warned of fringe loyalist paramilitaries planning attacks on police officers.
Orangemen who favour a scaling down of the protests, however, face staunch opposition from their colleagues in Portadown and Drumcree, where again last night hundreds of Orangemen and loyalists gathered.
Roads were blocked throughout Belfast and in various parts of Northern Ireland. Vehicles were hijacked, burnt and used as barricades. Three policemen were slightly injured as gangs of youths attacked police officers in Sandy Row in Belfast with bricks, bottles and stones. Catholic houses have been attacked and families forced to flee.
There were also road blockages near Newry, in Lisburn, Carrickfergus, Broughshane and Dungannon. Near Portadown, Orangemen were locked in a standoff with police and British troops. The Orangemen were attempting to march 1 1/2 miles from Derrycarne Orange hall to Drumcree Church.
The ex-UFF leader, Mr Johnny Adair, appeared at the Drumcree protest again last night and claimed he had received a death threat from the INLA.
The RUC Chief Constable said he had had disturbing reports of "evil people on the extreme fringe of loyalism" planning to shoot or bomb police officers. On Tuesday night, RUC officers returned fire when they came under gun attack on the loyalist Shankill Road.
The British army erected a huge steel barrier at Drumcree, on the bridge where police have come under nightly attack from loyalist rioters. A British army spokesman said there were more recorded outbreaks of violence (61) over the past 24 hours than had been reported in the whole of last year.
The Church of Ireland Primate, Archbishop Robin Eames, said that if a solution was not found quickly someone would be killed. "People need to think deeply about being caught up in this situation," he told the BBC.
Mr George Patton, secretary of the Orange Order, said yesterday that there was constant contact between Orange leaders and the Portadown District about the Drumcree protest and the attendant civil disorder. "There is a great desire to see the situation defused, there is no doubt about that," said Mr Patton.
Orangemen at Grand Lodge level were studying an article in the unionist News Letter yesterday by the Parades Commission chairman, Mr Tony Holland, in which he amplified on the commission's five-point proposal setting out how Orangemen could parade down Garvaghy Road in three to eight months.