Sinn Féin and the SDLP have again clashed with the Parades Commission over its decision not to impose any restrictions on next Saturday's Orange Order 3,000th-day parade and rally at Drumcree, outside Portadown.
Sinn Féin, the SDLP and the nationalist Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition asked the commission to review its determination, but yesterday the commission ruled that there was no reason for it to alter its decision.
In an implicit criticism of how nationalists in Portadown were characterising Saturday's Orange Order parade from Portadown town centre and the subsequent rally at Drumcree church, a commission spokesman yesterday complained of an unnecessary heightening of tension.
He said that, contrary to some claims, the parade would not "process" past St John's Catholic Church during a Mass, and the organisers were to be commended for rescheduling the parade to avoid such an issue.
"The commission is satisfied that the parade organiser has no intention of allowing this parade to process past Drumcree bridge or anywhere near the vicinity of Garvaghy Road. Claims that suggest otherwise have the effect of heightening local tensions and creating inappropriate fear and anger throughout the local community."
The Orange Order in Portadown said that the parade and rally, marking the 3,000th day of Orangemen being banned from parading down the nationalist Garvaghy Road, would be peaceful, and anyone with violent intentions should stay away.
Local Sinn Féin MLA John O'Dowd accused the commission of abdicating its responsibility. "The situation as it now stands is that the Orange Order have been given a green light to behave in exactly whatever fashion they decide this Saturday night.
"The PSNI have been handed the power over parades, exactly the role which the Parades Commission have been tasked to do. Given the history of intimidation and violence which is associated with the Orange Order at Drumcree, nationalists in Portadown are rightly apprehensive at this turn of events."
Local SDLP MLA Dolores Kelly said that the commission's decision was "ill-advised".
The local [ Orange] lodge has given reassurances about their behaviour, but what about the people they have invited on to the streets to join them? I intend to meet local residents and the police in the coming days to see how these concerns can be dealt with. Taking Portadown Orange lodge at their word has never been a strategy that the SDLP or the residents of the Garvaghy Road have followed in the past."
