Around 1,000 people attended a rally in the lower Ormeau in south Belfast last night to demand that Orange parades be re-routed away from nationalist areas, writes Suzanne Breen.
The demonstration was addressed by community activists from across the North, Sinn Fein and SDLP speakers and a Catholic priest. Residents pledged to block Apprentice Boys parades next month. A minute's silence was held for Dermot McShane, who was killed when he was struck by an RUC Land Rover in Derry, and Michael McGoldrick, the Co Armagh taxi driver shot dead by loyalists last week.
SDLP councillor, Mr Alex Allwood, accused the British government of "surrender and abdication of authority in the face of threats and terror". Sinn Fein councillor, Mr Pat McGeown, said that nationalists had voluntarily re-routed marches that passed Protestant areas. "Why can't the Orange Order, Blackmen and the Apprentice Boys accept the same principle?"