ACCORDING to nationalist and loyalist sources in Portadown, Co Armagh, the RUC is planning to an Orange Order parade from passing through a nationalist area of the town next Sunday. The sources said the RUC would most likely announce today that the parade was being re routed away from the Garvaghy Road.
A similar decision last year resulted in a three day stand off between the Orange Order and the RUC, which became known as the Siege of Drumcree. Orangemen are holding a service in Drumcree Church on Sunday morning and they then plan to march to the town centre via Garvaghy Road.
The parade organisers have applied for permission to the RUC but no decision has yet been announced. Nationalist residents are threatening to stage a sitdown protest on the road if the parade is allowed.
"They will have to drag us off the streets," said a spokesman for the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition. However, nationalist sources in the town said they expected the RUC to re route the parade away from the area.
Orange Order sources also said the RUC plans to offer them an alternative route. Sources said this would be unacceptable and insisted on the right to follow their traditional route.
Last year, around 1,000 Orangemen attempted to march down Garvaghy Road. When they were stopped by police, they called for support from brethren across the North.
Around 15,000 Loyalists descended on Drumcree and there was a three day stand off, with police. Eventually, the Nationalist protesters agreed to let the parade pass. However, they later claimed that Unionist politicians had engaged in triumphalist behaviour as they arrived in Portadown Town Centre.
The Orange Order has refused to hold negotiations with the residents who have said the time has now passed for a deal. They have pledged to stop the march if it gets the go ahead.
Several thousand police officers will be drafted into Portadown this weekend if a confrontation seems likely.
. One of the first potential flashpoints of the North's marching season passed without incident last night, when Orangemen paraded peacefully past the Ormeau Bridge in south Belfast.
The RUC closed the bridge, and although Loyalist bystanders exhorted marchers to confront the police, there were no incidents.
However, Ballinafeigh Orangemen, organisers of last night's march, have signalled their intention to march on the Lower Ormeau Road on July 12th.