THE Apprentice Boys have said they remain open minded on suggestions from Derry's nationalist community about the planned march along the city walls next month. But the organisation has also insisted that the parade should go ahead "unhindered".
A spokesman made the brief comments yesterday after an Apprentice Boys delegation met the Northern Secretary, Sir Patrick Mayhew, in Belfast.
Efforts to reach a solution are continuing. But the Bogside Residents Group (BRG), which objects to the march proceeding along a stretch of the wall overlooking the nationalist area, says the Apprentice Boys have refused to talk.
The group is holding a contentious parade of its own tomorrow night, starting in the mainly Protestant Waterside district, to demand "equal rights and an end to second class citizenship".
One of those who attended yesterday's meeting with Sir Patrick, the DUP councillor, Mr William Hay, said the Apprentice Boys had made informal attempts to speak to Bogside residents but not the BRG because of its appointed spokesman's "very close connections" with Sinn Fein.
The Sinn Fein chairman, Mr Mitchel McLaughlin, called on the Apprentice Boys and other organisations to accept the need for dialogue and consent.
He accused the Orange Order and the unionist leaderships of, opting "for confrontation, bringing us all to the brink of open conflict" at Garvaghy Road in Portadown earlier this month.
"But this is 1996, not 1969. Unionism cannot simply get what it wants irrespective of the rights or concerns of other sections of our community. Nationalists have the confidence to accommodate unionism and its culture. But we will not be walked over."
. Fine Gael will send a group of observers to the parade. The group, to be lead by Ms Mary Flaherty, the Dublin North West TD, will include Mr Paul Bradford, joint chairman of the British Irish Interparliamentary Body, Senators Dan Neville and Brian Hayes, and Ms Mary Banotti MEP.
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