The annual Orange Order parade at Drumcree passed off peacefully today with Orangemen insisting they will continue their campaign to walk their traditional route.
Members of the Portadown District have been banned from marching down the mainly nationalist Garvaghy Road in the town for the last 12 years.
After the traditional church service at Drumcree parish church, a delegation of Orangemen handed their customary letter of protest to police at a barricade blocking the route.
This year's march was the last that will be adjudicated by the Parades Commission ahead of its replacement with new parade management structures this winter.
At today's event Portadown lodge District Master Darryl Hewitt told around 200 supporters that efforts to march on the route would go on.
"We will not be walking away from this place and I can assure you that we will continue to work hard to achieve what we desire," he said.
"Our resolve has not diminished over the weeks and months - no-one should be in any doubt, Portadown District are in this for the long haul - and we will not be deflected from seeking to achieve our objective."
The application to march this year was delivered to police only last Sunday by Orangemen at Drumcree.
An application for a feeder parade to pass Ardoyne shops in north Belfast on July 12th, the scene of violence last year, was approved.
PA