The North's Parades Commission has banned a proposed "peace march" by Protestant women on the mainly nationalist Garvaghy Road in Portadown, Co Armagh, next Saturday.
The newly-formed Ulster Women's Coalition had applied to hold a "march of witness" on Saturday evening to Drumcree Church where an open-air service would take place. This was to be followed by a "march for peace" down the contentious Garvaghy Road route.
The Parades Commission informed the organisers yesterday they would be allowed to proceed only to Drumcree Church and the remainder of the parade along Drumcree Road leading to the Garvaghy Road and Portadown town centre had been banned. This latest decision by the Parades Commission is similar to the one taken in relation to the Portadown Orange District Parade to Drumcree last July. That decision was followed by serious violence as Orangemen confronted security forces at Drumcree Hill for 14 days.
The Garvaghy Road residents' spokesman, Mr Breandan Mac Cionnaith, said last night: "We can understand why the parade was banned but we cannot understand why no restrictions have been imposed on the outward march. This is timed to pass St John the Baptist Catholic Church as people arrive for Saturday evening Mass. People from the Obins Street area will have to make their way to church along the same road and at the same time as this march passes. This now has all the features of a Harryville-type situation and we have already informed the Parades' Commission of our concerns."
Mr Mac Cionnaith said the Garvaghy Road residents would be meeting later in the week to decide their strategy for Saturday's parade.
A spokeswoman for the Ulster Women's Coalition said: "We are angry that a peace march open to all women in Northern Ireland has been banned. Once again the Parades Commission has capitulated in the face of pressure from the Garvaghy Road residents." She went on: "Breandan Mac Cionnaith did not oppose the peace camps by the women of the Garvaghy Road. Now when Protestants want to march for peace he accuses us of intending to mount a Harryville-type picket on the local Catholic church. It would appear that Mr Mac Cionnaith is intent on turning the Garvaghy Road into a Protestant-free zone and the government are assisting him achieve his objective."
Late last night the Ulster Women's Coalition said it intended to go ahead with the march despite the imposed restrictions. The group appealed to women to support the event.