ORANGEMEN vowed to keep up a long-running fight to march along the nationalist Garvaghy Road as they marked the 12th year of the controversial parade being blocked. More than 200 Orangemen marched through the streets of Portadown yesterday as they made their way to and from an annual service at Drumcree parish church at lunchtime.
There was no trouble as the members attended the service before making their way to a small bridge on the descent from the church, which leads in the direction of the Garvaghy Road.
At this point their path was blocked by a police barricade on the orders of the Parades Commission.
As has been the case for over a decade, a letter was handed over to police from the Orange Order outlining its protest to the blocking of what they claim is their traditional route.
District master of Portadown Loyal Orange Lodge, Darryl Hewitt, promised to keep battling to have the parade's controversial restrictions lifted during the annual Drumcree Sunday demonstration yesterday.
In a protest speech close to Drumcree parish church, Mr Hewitt hit out at the Parades Commission, calling it an "unelected quango".
And he called on the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition to engage in face-to-face talks with the Orange Order on the matter.
"Once again we find ourselves standing in front of this barrier preventing us from completing our traditional route," said Mr Hewitt in his address.
This year's march was the last that will be adjudicated by the controversial Parades Commission ahead of its replacement with new parade management structures this winter.
Yesterday was a far cry from events of the past which saw the security forces erect a 15-foot barrier along the bridge and dig a six-foot trench lined with razor-sharp wire.
While there was a heavy police presence throughout the Co Armagh town, only a handful of officers was positioned at a small barrier to rebuff Orangemen.
SIC: II