More than £9 million was spent policing this year's flashpoint marching season in Northern Ireland, it was revealed tonight.
With officers pitched into the ferocious rioting that engulfed bitterly disputed loyalist parades in Belfast, the bill soared from 12 months earlier.
Although the city's expanding Gay Pride carnival and nationalist events added to the strain on resources, the Orange Order was urged to rethink its most contentious marches.
But a unionist representative who claimed protesters were to blame for heightened security requirements called on them to let the loyal orders walk in peace.
Ian Paisley Jr, a Democratic Unionist who sits on the Northern Ireland Policing Board, said: "Yes, this is an astounding figure and it reflects the threat posed to Orangemen when they march.
"The best way to address it would be for those who protest against the right to march to actually sit back and allow these marches to proceed." The total cost of policing all parades in Northern Ireland between April and September was £9,242,580, according to new figures.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland also confirmed £642,000 was spent on Orange Order processions in Belfast on July 12 alone - the climax of the loyalist marching season.
Available figures for 12 months earlier showed £5,552,544 was spent on policing parades from April 1st to August 14th.
During this year's demonstrations, some of the worst violence seen in Northern Ireland for years erupted on the streets. At one July 12th parade in Ardoyne, north Belfast, a nationalist mob went on the rampage, throwing blast and petrol bombs at security lines.
More than 100 police officers and eight members of the public were injured and water cannon and 21 baton rounds were fired at the troublemakers.
Two months later, worse rioting broke out at the Whiterock parade when loyalist paramilitaries attacked police and troops with live fire and bombs.
Another 93 officers were injured, along with two soldiers and an unknown number of civilians, according to a human rights report issued this month.
Police discharged six live rounds and 238 baton rounds, as well as using water cannon heavily during the violence which started on September 10 and spread across the city for several days.
Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde said at the time that his resources could be better directed at other policing needs in the community, and appealed for marchers and protesters to sit down in talks.
The PSNI tonight confirmed that 3,045 parades were held in Northern Ireland this year. A spokeswoman said: "Although the majority of those parades passed off peacefully, they all needed to be policed, either to a greater or lesser extent.
PA