The Parades Commission has given the go-ahead for the Orange Order's "12th Field" service to take place in south Belfast's Ormeau Park, an event which attracted close to 20,000 people last year. Orangemen will also be allowed to walk their proposed route, which includes a small section of the Ormeau Road, to the park.
Earlier, the Alliance Party Chief Whip, Mr David Ford, condemned the Orange Order's proposal to move its traditional "12th Field" gathering in Belfast to five separate locations, after the Parades Commission banned the order from proceeding down the nationalist Lower Ormeau Road on the day.
It is traditional for all Belfast lodges to assemble at the "field" in Edenderry a few miles outside Belfast after completing their parades all over the city. In protest at the Parades Commission's ban on the Lower Ormeau march, the Orange Order was expected to hold gatherings at five other venues across Belfast, which have not yet been disclosed but are feared to be at sensitive interface locations. These plans might now be changed in the light of the commission's ruling.
Describing the proposals as "nothing short of a deliberate act of provocation and intimidation", Mr Ford added: "At a time when Catholic homes and businesses are under attack, this is a naked attempt to piggyback on the past few days' intimidation which the Orange Order claims to condemn.
"More tension, more intimidation, more fear. This is the consequence of the inflammatory nonsense spouted by Harold Gracey [the Orange leader in Portadown] last Sunday. It is high time the police cracked down, and cracked down hard, on the thugs intent on bringing Northern Ireland to its knees."
Last year, the order decided to hold its "12th Field" gathering at Ormeau Park for the first time after a similar ban on the Lower Ormeau Road. The access route used then was the non-contentious Ravenhill Road.
An Ulster Unionist Party delegation yesterday met the Parades Commission to discuss the situation. Afterwards UUP councillor Mr Jim Rodgers said he hoped that "wiser counsel" would prevail and the security forces would not be put under additional pressure in Belfast.