Orange Order March On 'Glorious Twelfth'

Thousands of members of the Orange Order parade across Northern Ireland on the "glorious twelfth" - the most significant date on the Protestant marching calendar.

They march to mark the victory of King William of Orange over the Catholic King James in 1690.

To some, it is tradition; to others, triumphalism.

Streets are bedecked with Union flags and bunting. They even paint the kerbstones red, white and blue.

With the Orange Order demanding its right to walk traditional routes and Catholic residents objecting, the marching season often provides the backdrop for a period of tension on the streets.

Nationalists in the Ardoyne district of North Belfast stage an annual protest, and this year minor scuffles between demonstrators and police after the parade passed through the area did not amount to any significant violence.

Loyalists, who had rebranded their celebration 'Orange Fest' in a bid to change its image, were also angry this year because the Parade’s Commission ordered them to hold their march earlier.

As such, police feared simultaneous protests but the Order's spokesman, Reverend Mervyn Gibson, said they had found "a peaceful solution to the appalling predicament the Parades Commission have placed us all in".

In another apparent breakthrough, Orange leaders engaged in "facilitated talks" with Catholic residents in the village of Crumlin, County Antrim in an effort to ensure the parade there passes peacefully.

Ten people were arrested overnight when trouble broke out in nationalist areas of West Belfast and Portadown.

But the eleventh night - when loyalists light bonfires - was quieter than previous years.

Hopes are high for a peaceful evening parade, with assistant Chief Constable Will Kerr, the man in charge of policing parades, saying: "We are extremely encouraged that the vast majority of areas across Northern Ireland were peaceful last night."

"The power is in everyone's hands to influence what happens for the rest of today.

"Violence does not need to be inevitable - it is an individual choice with individual consequences."