The British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, had further talks with both the Portadown Orangemen and the nationalist residents of the Garvaghy Road in a final attempt to solve the Drumcree impasse before tomorrow's parade.
Mr Blair has been involved in negotiations on the controversial parade since Monday and has held three meetings with the Orange delegation and another with the residents.
A memo complied by Mr David Trimble's chief-of-staff, Mr David Campbell, dated June 30th, was made public yesterday by the Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition. It states that in the event of a parade not occurring on Sunday, the District intends to refuse all talks and to protest at Drumcree for two years.
However, the document also outlined a deal acceptable to the Orange delegation which involved the laying of wreaths by both sides at a point on the Garvaghy Road in the name of victims and a parade by the Orangemen down the road.
Mr Brendan Mac Cionnaith of the residents' coalition said the Orange Order was putting "a gun to the head of nationalists" by threatening to protest for two years and he would be "quizzing" Mr Blair about the content of the document leaked to them by an insider.
According to Mr Mac Cionnaith the proposals outlined in the document represented the "hijacking" of previous proposals made by the residents which involved a joint act of reconciliation but no march.
Mr David Jones, the spokesman for the Portadown District Orange Order, said he failed to see the point of releasing the document as everyone was aware that the protest by the Orangemen would continue if the march was prevented from proceeding down the road. He claimed the residents had put no proposals forward.
Writing in the News Letter yesterday, Mr David McNarry, a senior Orangeman, said there was "still all to play for and gain" in the run-up to Sunday's march.
"Behind the scene, the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Ireland, Robert Saulters, has been working away taking soundings."
It emerged yesterday that Mr Saulters has written to all 1,500 Orange lodges in Northern Ireland calling on them to protest peacefully in the coming days. "We will not be calling for sustained province-wide protests which would result in the effective closing down of this country. We will not be calling for road blocks to be carried out in support of our cause."
However, he urged members to support the Portadown Orangemen by attending protest parades. "We do recognise, as in the past there are others outside the Institution who would seek to use these peaceful protests to agitate violence to suit their agenda. Any trouble only plays into the hands of our enemies."
The RUC Chief Constable, Sir Ronnie Flanagan, yesterday repeated his concern that people wishing to cause violence would use the cover of legitimate peaceful protest this weekend. He said "decent people" have nothing to fear from the heightened security measures.
In a statement the Representative Church Body of the Church of Ireland said yesterday: "The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has made a Possession Order pursuant to the provisions of Section 26(2) of the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Acts, 1996 in respect of glebeland adjacent to Drumcree Church at Portadown. A similar Possession Order was made in 1998.
"As a result the Royal Ulster Constabulary has taken possession of the glebeland adjacent to Drumcree Church with a view to preserving public order at Drumcree and its environs".