IT'S straightforward. Loyalists want to hold two parades through Newtownbutler today, nationalists want none.
In this Border village there have been meetings, attempts to negotiate a settlement, pleas for tolerance, but no one can predict today's outcome.
Speaking to residents, the issues are respect and tolerance. Both sides say the other has no respect. Tolerance appears to be running at zero.
The Catholic refrain on the change in attitude is the same: "Things are different after Drumcree.
It has not always been the case in Newtownbutler, a village near Clones, Co Mowaghan. This week it has hit the headlines as the second potential flashpoint area, after Derry.
But up to now, Newtownbutler, unlike Derry, has been a village where both sides got on.
According to locals, they lived harmoniously in this rural community. There is a historical society with mixed membership, a development association and a Thursday Club for the elderly attended by Catholics and Protestants.
As one person said: "When there was a death both communities attended the wake house and the funeral."
Tensions would increase around election time or the marching season, but it was nothing compared to today's bitterness.
This is not confined to Newtownbutler. It is also increasing in nearby Roslea and in the larger town of Lisnaskea.
What started as Catholic boycotting of Protestant businesses has developed into tit for tat boycotting by both sides.
One person from Newtownbutler said that there was no "real boycott" but went on to recall how last week he and his wife met several other local Catholic couples who had travelled more than 90 miles to Dublin, looking for items they would normally buy in Protestant businesses in Lisnaskea.
A local SDLP councillor, Mr Fergus McQuillan, says theirs is an agricultural community where there was always co operation over the years. "It's the so called sickcow syndrome. It doesn't matter if it is a Protestant or a Catholic cow. I remember once there was a cow in distress and the owner was away.
"A neighbour called to borrow something on the farm and saw the cow and called in others and by the time the calf was born, the DUP, the UUP, Sinn Fein and the SDLP had been there to help. That co operation is there yet, but it is most definitely under threat. Things haven't really been this bad since Bloody Sunday," said Mr McQuillan.
He recalls how his village pub is still boycotted after his role in the civil rights movement in 1969. "Mind you, these days it is more honoured in the breach rather than the observance, and I would hope what seems to be going on now will also die down."
But he admits that in recent weeks his Protestant customers have not crossed his threshold. "It's probably as well at the moment because tempers are running very high."
As far as the Protestants are concerned, they are getting about their business, as they have always done in this predominantly Catholic village with its population of 1,000.
Marches are an integral part of their tradition and they seem mildly surprised by the objections. But times have changed. Apart from events in Drumcree, nationalists harbour a lot of resentment about local road blocks set up around July 12th.
While parades have always been part of village life, the numbers have increased. Nationalists realise they can now object, and they have the community leaders to organise them and to do so.
Today the local Royal Black Preceptory (branch of the Royal Black Institution) wants to march at 9 a.m. from the Orange Hall to a waiting bus at the other end of the town which will bring them to a county demonstration in Ballinamallard. They plan to repeat the exercise on their way back at about 5.30 p.m. A similar event is due to take place in Roslea.
This week a group of nationalists got together and set up a group called the Newtownbutler Area Residents' Association. Following a meeting on Tuesday night they sent a letter to the RUC and the RBP asking that the institution refrain from marching through the village.
A local UUP councillor, Mr Albert Liddle, a member of the preceptory, will march today and is perplexed by objections. "The parades never gave of fence. I cannot see any reason why we would not parade the streets of Newtownbutler as we always did."
Is it not enough that they get to parade in Ballinamallard, ask the nationalists? But the members of the RBP fail to see their logic. "It has always been our custom for us to do it this way, said Mr Liddle. "We walk from the Orange Hall to the pick up point at the other end of the village. Anyway, two thirds of that particular area is really Protestant."
Mr Liddle said the preceptory prides itself on "behaving in a very dignified manner, never giving offence to anyone". Protestants in the area, although refusing to be quoted publicly, say they are frightened and isolated.
The Kerr family lives in the town and is Protestant. On July 12th Mr Melyvn Kerr, whose family lives on the main street, had a window broken in what he described as a completely unprovoked attack. His wife, who suffered a serious illness last year, ended up in hospital as a result, her family believes, of the trauma suffered that night.
Ask nationalists about their feelings on parades and one of the most regularly used words is "offensive". A local hand appears to be the chief focus. For several years the RBP was without its own hand and a group of young men set up their own "kick the Pope hand" called the Border Defenders.
And it is a thorn in the side of many nationalists, and indeed an embarrassment, although only privately admitted, for some of those marching alongside them.
Nationalists are quick to point out that the young man who plays the "big drum" in the hand is a member of the Kerr family. "Things are not always as straightforward as they may be presented," said one nationalist. Mr Michael McPhillips is the spokesman for the Newtownbutler Residents' Association.
Things began to turn in July, he told The Irish Times. On July 7th, as the situation in Drumcree worsened, there was a church parade. "Two nights previously there was a parade after a sports night and there was no trouble. But two nights later they walked the full length of the town and back again", and played for about 40 minutes in the middle of the main street. The town had to be closed down because of it. Lots of Catholics asked them to stop but they only laughed at them."
The following Wednesday, he said, there was word around that members of the Orange Order were going to set up checkpoints around the town. Tension mounted that evening and there was a strong police presence.
At about 8.30 p.m. the police disappeared and the checkpoints never materialised. These and other rumours heightened tension as the Twelfth neared.
Similarly, local Orangemen paraded through Newtownbutler on the morning of the Twelfth before the marchers headed off to a county demonstration in Kesh. On their return later that evening, a group of nationalists had formed a line in the middle of the town. They were tackled by riot police and at one stage began throwing missiles and abuse.
It was later that night, say the marchers, that the Kerrs' house and Protestant businesses in the area became a target for attack. "The rioters were our neighbours, they were able to call the Orangemen by their Christian names. It was sinister," said one man.
Nationalists claim that many parade participants are not local and are "bussed" in from outside. The RBP's parade on July 21st had several members from other regions, they claim, as will today's.
Last Sunday night brought another clash as an RBP parade marched through the town. Trouble broke out when a few nationalists were sitting on a verandah across from the Orange Hall.
Versions of events differ wildly. According to loyalists, the nationalists hurled abuse at the police and began to fight.
Nationalists, including the Ingram family who own the house, say their son Damian was "pushed" by police as he attempted to enter the house and was hit over the head.
Two other men were injured, assisting their nationalist friends or trying to cause trouble, depending on how you hear it. They were arrested that night following hospital treatment and are due to appear in court on charges of disorderly behaviour, resisting arrest and assaulting police.
"It is a disgrace. There was no protest of any kind and youths were still attacked," said Mr McQuillan.
But there will be a protest today, according to Mr McPhillips. This was decided at a meeting of nationalists on Thursday, a meeting he described as "the most difficult" he has ever chaired.
He said yesterday that although they had offered a compromise, which he would not disclose, they had received no direct communication from the RBP. A code of conduct has been drawn up for the nationalist protest.
"Of course, we have asked that it will he a peaceful dignified protest but if we receive no word from the RBP this evening, tomorrow will be a hot and dangerous day in this village."