N. IRELAND: PORTADOWN: TENSIONS MOUNT AHEAD OF ORANGE MARCH

Описание: (5 Jul 1998) Natural Sound

Security forces in Northern Ireland are bracing for a Sunday stand-off between Protestants and Catholics, as a protestant fraternal group, the Orange Order, prepares to march through the streets of Portadown.

The Drumcree march is the most controversial of the group's parades, with a route that traditionally takes the Orangemen through a Catholic part of town.

In a bid to forestall riots that have in the past been sparked by the march, the Orangemen are this year banned from taking their usual route down the nationalist Garvaghy Road.

But tension is building - the Orange Order remains adamant that the march will proceed as planned, and the Catholic community has vowed to stop them.

Heavy security was in place at Drumcree Church from an early hour on Sunday morning.

The Protestant group, the Orange Order, will march here before trying to take their traditional but controversial route through Portadown, via the Catholic Garvaghy Road.

Every year, members of the group defy their Catholic neighbours and march in the parade celebrating their British identity.

For the past two years the Drumcree March has sparked riots across Northern Ireland, and in a bid to sidestep any violence, a special commission has banned the Orangemen from entering the Catholic area of town.

Irish eyes are glued to Portadown this year as the region tries to protect a fragile peace accord - the Good Friday deal reached on April 10th.

Police and British soldiers have turned the town into an armed camp.

The security forces have erected large metal screens to block the marchers' route to the Garvaghy Road.

And to scupper attempts by a determined Orange Order to infiltrate the road in other ways, trenches filled with barbed wire have been dug in the surrounding fields.

But despite a major British military presence, the Orange Order is determined that Sunday's march will proceed along its traditional route.

After paying homage at the Drumcree Church to a victorious 17th Century Protestant king, William of Orange, whose troops defeated the forces of an invading Catholic King James in 1690, the parade plans to march through Garvaghy Road.

The road is inhabited by members of the Catholic nationalist community who claim that the march is simply a triumphalist expression of protestant victories in the past.

And community members have vowed to stop it.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair held telephone talks with his Irish counterpart Bertie Ahern and other high-level ministers this morning, in a bid to find a last minute solution.

And the heads of the major Protestant and Catholic parties have asked marchers and protesters to show tolerance and restraint.

Meanwhile, a degree of normality was displayed by Garvaghy Road residents who attended Sunday morning mass at their local Catholic church.

But the heavy security presence serves as a reminder of what the day could bring.

It remains to be seen if the Drumcree March can break from its tradition of violence.

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