Nationalist residents in south Belfast last night met the North's Parades Commission to discuss a planned Apprentice Boys' parade through the Lower Ormeau Road on Easter Monday.
Speaking after the meeting, Mr Gerard Rice, of the Lower Ormeau Concerned Community group, said it was strongly considering taking a case to the High Court if the commission did not overturn its original decision to allow the march.
It is believed local people will attempt to block the road if plans for the march go ahead. Fifty members of the Belfast Walker Club of the Apprentice Boys, with a band, are due to take part in the parade. The commission has forbidden music to be played as they pass nationalist homes.
They will set off from Ballynafeigh Orange Hall on the Upper Ormeau Road and will pass the Lower Ormeau on their way to Linenhall Street in the city centre.
Issuing its ruling last Friday, the commission said that since August 1999, there had been "["] clear evidence of considerable efforts" by the Apprentice Boys to reach agreement with LOCC.
It said LOCC had engaged in dialogue with them which had been "sustained and meaningful notwithstanding spasmodic breaks". The commission expressed regret that the dialogue had produced no agreement but it gave approval for the march.
Speaking after meeting the commission last night, Mr Rice said he had challenged the group to produce evidence of the dialogue which it used to justify its decision to allow the parade. "The commission was not able to do that," he said.
The SDLP also met the commission last night. Speaking in advance of the meeting, Assembly member Ms Carmel Hanna, said her party was surprised by the Commission's ruling.
She said there had been no evidence of recent dialogue between the Apprentice Boys and local residents and she challenged the Commission to explain "the apparent inconsistency in its recent determination".
An Apprentice Boys spokesman, Mr Tommy Cheevers, appealed to the residents to accept the commission's decision "as we have had to do in recent years".