The Orange Order's "Tour of the North" march will take place in north Belfast this evening in what is the first major loyalist parade in the city of the marching season.
As many as 1,000 Orangemen, including 22 bands, are expected to parade along a 7.5km route and past republican Ardoyne, where a protest is expected.
As many as 1,000 Orangemen, including 22 bands, are expected to parade along a 7.5 kilometre route and past republican Ardoyne, where a protest is expected.
Sinn Féin's Mr Gerry Kelly said although he is opposed to the parade, he hoped for a peaceful outcome.
Last year, patients at a north Belfast hospital had to be locked in their wards for their own safety as up to 40 loyalists went on the rampage.
The mob had been associated with the controversial Tour of the North Orange parade through the city. The parade, one of the most sensitive in Belfast in the early marching season, otherwise passed off peacefully.
This year is the first time determinations by the Parades Commission, which rules on contentious marches, have laid down conditions that also apply to parade supporters and protesters.
The commission has set down restrictions on the march as it passes a stretch near the Ardoyne shops, where trouble flared last July 12th.
Police say Parades Commission rules will be enforced and Orangemen will not be allowed to play music as they pass Ardoyne. The marchers' supporters, family members and friends will also be allowed to walk through the area subject to conditions.
Three local Orange bands will be subject to specific terms of the commission's ruling.
Policing of the event follows contacts between PSNI officers, residents, Orangemen representatives and others.
There will be screening, lines of PSNI Land Rovers and temporary railings at key sections of the route, but these will not be in place until just before the parade begins and will be dismantled shortly after the marchers pass.