Portadown Orangemen today marched through London to bring their Drumcree protest to British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair's doorstep.
Around 200 members of the Orange Order played traditional hymns as they passed through Whitehall in full regalia to protest about the banning of their annual parade from the nationalist Garvaghy Road.
Mr David Burrows, deputy district manager of the Orange Order in the County Armagh town, handed in a letter to Mr Blair complaining about the "thousand days of denial" over Drumcree.
The letter said: "This route is the most direct route, it was sanctioned by the police, and the parade need take no more than 15 minutes to walk from the top of the road to the bottom.
"All over the United Kingdom, various groups are allowed public celebration of their culture and heritage, and if other groups don't like it they have to put up with it. The continuing denial of the rights of the Portadown Orangemen, to satisfy the demands of extreme Republicans, is an open invitation to any amount of rabble to interfere with rights of others by agitation and a threat of violence.
"We earnestly ask that you think again about the situation in Portadown, and break the impasse that has developed over this church parade, with all the attendant damage to community relations."
Mr William Bather, Grand Master of the Loyal Orange Institution of England, said: "We hope this will give a better awareness of our plight in being denied our civil and religious rights as we have done for 200 years. The route is now being blocked by police and soldiers and we are here today to mark the 1,000th day of the present stand-off."
Mr Burrows, said: "We are looking for accommodation, not segregation, for both the parade and republican residents. They always argued against the march within the structure of what is happening in the whole country, which is not what the Orangemen are concerned about."
PA