Thousands of spectators gathered in Belfast this morning for a British army “homecoming” parade for soldiers of the Royal Irish Regiment soldiers returning from Afghanistan.
Riot police kept apart rival loyalist and republican factions in Belfast today as thousands of supporters and opponents of the parade packed the city centre.
Sinn Fein supporters and dissident republicans opposed to the leadership of Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness held separate demonstrations this morning, one not far from City Hall where several thousand people, nearly all of them wearing poppies cheered and applauded as 250 soldiers and representatives of the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force passed by.
Security was especially tight at Great Victoria Street where loyalists on one side and Sinn Fein supporters who marched from Dunville Park, off the Falls Road, came to within 50 yards of each other close to the junction with Grosvenor Road.
Before the parade started insults were shouted and a number of bottles and fireworks were thrown towards the republican protesters.
About 200 dissident republicans, among them Brendan McKenna and Colin Duffy from Craigavon, Co.Armagh were held back by police near the West Link, and well away from the city centre. This demonstration also passed off without incident.
Loyalist paramilitaries, among them Jackie McDonald, a leader of the Ulster Defence Association, were also on the streets, and outside City Hall Peter Robinson, First Minister at the Northern Ireland Assembly was applauded as he walked to take his place on the VIP platform.
Efforts have been made by both sides in recent days to quell tensions with Sinn Fein changing its plans for its counter-demonstration, altering its march route entirely and removing the possibility of a confrontation with army supporters from the loyalist Shankill area.
Maj Gen Chris Brown, the British army's general officer commanding in Northern Ireland, issued a press statement on Friday announcing the cancellation of a planned RAF fly-past and other measures designed to quell rising tension over the parade.
The move was criticised by unionists who claimed the Ministry of Defence altered plans as a result of republican pressure.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland is planning one of its largest operations in the city in many years amid plans for unofficial protests by other republican groups, socialist groups and far-right activists, including some suspected of travelling from Britain.