Huge security operation ahead of controversial march

Описание: (7 Jul 2001)

1. Soldiers to Drumcree church
2. Soldier looking through binoculars
3. Wide of Union Jack
4. Soldiers unravelling barbed wire
5. Soldiers building barricade
6. Close up of gun
7. Wide of Northern Ireland security minister Jane Kennedy talking to soldiers
8. Kennedy walking
9. Soldier at barbed wire fence
10. SOUNDBITE: (English) Jane Kennedy, Northern Ireland Security Minister
"I am here on a working visit so I can see for myself the preparations that have been taking place. I have been very encouraged by the professional work that has been done to make sure that the parade decision is carried out."
11. Shelter where Orangemen stay all year round for permanent presence
12. Union Jack
13. Wide shot of road
14. Fields to Landrover
15. Couple watching
16. SOUNDBITE: (English) Reverend John Pickering, Drumcree Church rector
"Tomorrow is a very serious day here in Portadown and I am appealing to people not to be speculating about what might happen but rather to be calm, to be cool and restrained and to be peaceful. And I am calling on people to pray to Almighty God for this whole area here - Drumcree, Portadown and the whole of Northern Ireland."
17. Gavarghy road
18. Catholic mural
19. Mural
20. Soldiers erecting barricades
21. "No talking no walking" sign

STORYLINE:

Hundreds of British soldiers were gearing up for the possibility of violence as Northern Ireland's annual marching season began on Saturday.

Protestants from the Orange Order have been barred from marching down the mainly nationalist Garvaghy Road near Portadown, for the fourth consecutive year.

About 600 soldiers are involved in a security operation which began in the early hours of Saturday.

Soldiers have erected a large steel and concrete barrier across the road at the bridge to stop the parade going further towards the Garvaghy Road.

They also put barbed wire and razor wire in place, and have dug up fields next to the barrier, along with widening a water-filled ditch.

The army said a convoy of more than 20 trucks was attacked by stone-throwers as security forces blocked the bridge.

No one was injured.

The head of Northern Ireland's police force - or Royal Ulster Constabulary as it is controversially known - hopes that there will be little opportunity for violence.

But the Protestant marchers - better known as Orangemen - insist they should be allowed to march along Garvaghy Road to return to their hall in Portadown.

The march is intended to commemorates the First World War's Battle of the Somme which culminates in a service upon reaching Drumcree Parish Church.

But nationalist Catholics oppose the marches which have been barred from the road since 1998.

Last year, province-wide protests in support of the Orangemen led to widespread disruption as roads were blocked.

Loyalist rioting resulted in several nights of violence.

The march has been accompanied by disturbances every year since 1995, and has often led to violence in the rest of Northern Ireland.

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