FEARS are growing of a confrontation in west Belfast today between police and nationalist residents protesting against an Orange Order parade which skirts their area.
The march is due to pass near nationalist houses on the Springfield Road around 3, p.m. It is believed residents will stage a protest. Sinn Fein has called on the organisers to reroute the parade even at this late stage. A party councillor, Mr Fra McCann, said: "Indications are that the RUC will put on a massive armed presence to force this parade through the nationalist part of the Springfield Road."
Mr Kevin McQuillan, of the Irish Republican Socialist Party the INLA's political wing, said tensions were running high and that there was a risk of "serious public disorder".
However, a police spokesman said redevelopment in the area meant that the parade was now very much "on the periphery of the nationalist side of the Springfield Road". There would not be trouble if both sides displayed goodwill and common sense he added.
The RUC announced yesterday that an Orange march tomorrow to commemorate the Battle of the Somme is to be rerouted away from the nationalist lower Ormeau.
Mr Gerard Rice, of the Lower Ormeau Concerned Community (LOCC) group, said residents were relieved. "I hope common sense prevails and that the order will now use the suggested alternative routes," he said.
The Alliance Party urged the Orange Order to accept the decision and avoid confrontation with the police.
However, an Ulster Unionist councillor, Mr Jim Clarke criticised the decision. "The Orange Order should be able to use the highway. They have civil rights as well as anyone else," he said. He claimed LOCC did not want to compromise.
Another UUP councillor, Mr Nelson McCausland, said: "This is a political decision. The Dublin Government have certainly had a hand in it. It is foolish because its reinforces the belief among republicans that, if they threaten violent protest, the government twill cave in and ban whatever parade they want banned.
"This will simply encourage republicans to step up such threats and to extend them to other areas. The problem will be increased."
Meanwhile, a repetition of last year's confrontation in Drumcree in Portadown, Co Armagh, between nationalist residents, the Orange Order and the RUC seems increasingly likely.
The Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition has pledged to oppose an Orange march which is expected to pass through its area tomorrow week. It said at least six prominent politicians had promised to attend the protest.
It has already notified the RUC of its intention to hold a festival on the road that day. There was a three-day stand off between the RUC and Orangemen in Drumcree last year when nationalist residents refused to allow the annual parade through.
A compromise was eventually reached and the Orangemen marched silently past without musical accompaniment. However, residents later complained of the "triumphalist" behaviour of some leading unionist politicians who took part in the march.