The head of the Orange Order in Portadown yesterday refused to condemn the violence and protests over the banned Orange march at Drumcree which have disrupted life in the North in recent days.
Speaking at Drumcree, the Portadown district master, Mr Harold Gracey, said: "I am not going to condemn violence because Gerry Adams never condemns it." Mr Gracey said he had warned the Prime Minister, Mr Blair, that violence would result if the march was not allowed to go ahead, and that he did not trust the RUC Chief Constable when he spoke of loyalist attacks on his officers.
"I am not saying I am happy with violence. I am not a violent person. I never have been, and anyone who knows me knows that, but this country, the Protestant people of this country and the loyalist community are sick to death of what is happening to this country," he said.
The spokesman for the Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition, Mr Breandan Mac Cionnaith, said "Harold Gracey is central to everything that happens over the next few days. There has been a massive push this week - and I accept and acknowledge this - from Orange leaders like Denis Watson to put a distance between themselves and the violence on the streets. David Trimble and the Protestant Church leaders have done likewise.
"Surely the time has come for Harold Gracey to take a stand against such violence? He seems to be out of step with many in his community."
The SDLP MLA for the area, Executive Minister Ms Brid Rogers, said "I think ordinary decent Orangemen around the North would be absolutely appalled at his absolute refusal to condemn the violence of the last number of nights," she said.
Sinn Fein Assembly member Dr Dara O'Hagan claimed Mr Gracey's comments proved "how far gone and how lost the Orange Order, particularly in Portadown, is on this issue".
In a statement issued after Mr Gracey's comments, the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland called for "restraint from those who truly wish to support the Orange Order at Drumcree and across the province". It said it could not accept responsibility for those who used its protests as a cover. "We are not a law enforcement agency . . . those resources lie with the government," it said.