BY 8 p.m. yesterday, hundreds of Orangemen had amassed for a march around Belfast city centre in support of their colleagues in Drumcree. They said they would march along a different city route every evening until the situation at Drumcree was resolved.
The parade was led by a group of Orange dignitaries, followed by the band of the South Belfast Young Conquerors. Then came the Orange Women's Association of Ireland, wearing sashes from various lodges and clutching their handbags.
The march was accompanied by several hundred supporters, mainly young, many of them with babies and children. Some of the children wore small knitted Orange sashes.
The march set off, turning right into Donegall Square, left again into Royal Avenue, along King Street and then back via Victoria Street to Donegall Square. Young men threw stones at the RUC, who were in riot gear, as each junction was sealed off.
The marchers then walked up Grosvenor Road, leading to Falls Road. The road was sealed off at Durham Street. Young men started taking stones off a broken wall on the Grosvenor Road. No attempt was made by the Orangemen to stop them and more stones were thrown at the RUC.
The march then turned left again into Durham Street, leading to Sandy Row, past a huge bonfire bearing a banner which said: "Drumcree 1996, Ye Ha!"
Suddenly there were calls for the marchers to stop. Some ran back. In the confusion someone said a woman had been hit by a stone.
As this was being noted, a group of men and women two of the men wearing Orange sashes - surrounded this reporter and asked what newspaper she represented. One of the Orangemen was particularly incensed.
"The Irish Times! What are you doing here? You're not wanted here. You Catholics shouldn't be here.
"You just come up here to ridicule us and distort things. Why don't you go back and write about all the problems in the Free State? You don't want us anyway and you don't want your own up here either.
"Why aren't you writing about all your priests molesting children? It's disgusting. I don't want to hear what you've got to say.
"It's your readers and your socialist newspaper fermenting all the trouble up here. You wrote lies and distortions about the Ormeau Road and the poor Catholics killed in the bookies' shop. What about all the Protestants killed? Go over to the Ormeau Road and talk to Gerry Rice (spokesman for the Lower Ormeau Residents' Action Group). I'll give you his address.
"You're not wanted here. You'd be better off on that bonfire than any bit of wood."