The Parades Commission in Northern Ireland must be allowed to continue to rule on contentious marches, moderate nationalists said tonight.
Following a meeting with Mr George Quigley, who is conducting a review on the future of the Commission, SDLP leader Mr Mark Durkan urged him not to bow to Ulster Unionist pressure to abolish the body.
The Stormont Deputy First Minister, who was accompanied by SDLP deputy leader Mrs Brid Rodgers, said: "We have been sceptical about the motives behind this review, which was commissioned by the Government at the behest of the Ulster Unionist Party.
"It is clear that the Ulster Unionist Party wants to abolish the Parades Commission.
"The SDLP is strongly opposed to this. While we have not always agreed with decisions of the Commission, we have always respected them.
"The Commission must be allowed to continue with its important work."
The Parades Commission has been the focus of unionist criticism over its rulings on controversial Orange Order and other Protestant marching organisations parades.
The British government, as a result of the Weston Park negotiations last year committed itself, in a boost for Mr David Trimble's UUP, to a review.
Unionists have in particular been angered by the Commission's refusal on occasion to allow Orangemen to march down the nationalist Garvaghy Road in Portadown and Belfast's Lower Ormeau Road.
However the Commission has also, at times, allowed marches through nationalist areas to go ahead.
Mr Durkan tonight also stressed the importance of dialogue between rival sides in marching disputes.
The Foyle MLA said: "As ever, the SDLP believes that it is only through dialogue that lasting solutions to parades disputes can be found."
PA