Saturday's parade through the centre of Derry by 12,000 members of the Apprentice Boys passed off peacefully. There was only one arrest in connection with the parade.
Two other people were arrested earlier in the Bogside area of the city where several cars and an articulated grocery lorry had been hijacked and set on fire.
The PSNI deputy chief constable, Mr Paul Leighton, said it was a great credit to the people of Derry that what was once a contentious parade had passed off relatively incident-free. "I have been here in the past when it has not been as it is today and I am absolutely delighted it's not like that anymore," said Mr Leighton.
"A lot of hard work has gone on here both behind the scenes and openly and it is a real tribute to all the people of this city that they have achieved such a peaceful outcome.
"This does prove that dialogue between people who perhaps in the past found it difficult to talk with each other can only be beneficial," he said.
SDLP MP John Hume, who also observed the parade, said he would like to see the Apprentice Boys' "Relief of Derry" celebrations become a major tourist event. "I have always wanted a society in which the civil rights of all sections of our people are fully respected. That means the Apprentice Boys have the civil right to parade but correspondingly to every civil right, people must exercise that right responsibly.
"That is what has taken place here today and that is an example for all other areas of Northern Ireland," he said.
"I also think that these occasions, since they are basically about history and culture, should be made into a 'Mardi Gras' festival, as has been done in New Orleans," Mr Hume added.
The Apprentice Boys parade started after 200 new members, all from England and Scotland, were initiated into the organisation. The police operation for the day, which involved 450 police officers compared to almost 2,000 police officers and British soldiers just three years ago, included sealing off roads into the city centre as well as erecting security screens along the route.
Alcohol and paramilitary trappings were banned and the police worked in conjunction with 40 marshals from the Apprentice Boys.
Apart from some minor occasional cat-calling between a group of nationalist youths and some of the Apprentice Boys, the parade was incident-free.
Three men gained access to the roof of the Northern Ireland Housing Executive's office block and unfurled a banner with "Political Status Now IRPWA [Irish Republican Prisoners' Welfare Association]" written on it.
However, the protesters were ignored by those marching below and remained on the roof for the 2½-hour parade.