N. IRELAND: PARADES COMMISSION TO DECIDE ON ORANGEMEN MARCH

(28 Jun 1998) English/Nat
Northern Ireland's hoped-for future of political compromise faces a fundamental test on Monday.
That is when the Parades Commission will rule on whether Protestant Orangemen can march next weekend through the Catholic section of Portadown.
Some smaller marches did pass off peacefully on Sunday - including an Orange march in Belfast and one in County Londonderry.
The annual confrontation between Catholic protesters and Protestant Orangemen during the marching season has caused bloodshed and bitterness over the years.
The signs were not good when on Saturday night Catholics clashed with riot police before the start of an Orange parade in west Belfast which had been cleared to cross the peace-line in the Springfield Road.
But fears of further violence on Sunday proved unfounded.
One march in Belfast passed off peacefully, despite being rerouted by the Parades Commission.
The Ballynafeigh Orange Lodge members were banned from Belfast's Catholic Lower Ormeau Road.
Instead, they stopped at police lines and held an hour-long service of remembrance on Ormeau Bridge.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Many have lost loved ones, many have lost property, many have lost their health through the troubles that have come to this province these past years; and it goes on and on and on."
SUPER CAPTION: Orangeman
But the Commission's long-awaited verdict on whether Orangemen can march through the Catholic section of Portadown next weekend has much of Northern Ireland living in dread.
If the commission lets the parade go ahead, Catholic protesters - directed by a former Irish Republican Army prisoner - have vowed to confront the police and British army.
If the Orange Order is barred from Portadown's Garvaghy Road, Northern Ireland's 80-thousand-strong Protestant fraternal group is threatening to cause chaos across the province until it gets its way.
The confrontation in Portadown has assumed symbolic significance above all others - making retreat for either side hard to contemplate.
In Bellaghy, County Londonderry, another march also passed off without problems -- despite a letter of protest handed over police lines.
UPSOUND: (English)
"Overend: Why and I and my brothers, with my band prevented from preceding?
Police Officer: I am carrying out the directions of the parades commission and am enforcing their determination.
Overend: The letter which I am given to you from the Secretary of State also includes a reference to the parades committee, despite the fact that we in the Orange institution do not recognise this."
SUPER CAPTION: Robert Overend, Grand Master of Orange Lodge and Police Officer
This year the new Parades Commission - three Catholics and three Protestants led by an English former labour-union negotiator - has tried to strike an elusive balance.
But Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam has admitted it's "a no-win situation, a conflict of rights" and that the coming week could prove "difficult and terrible".
Ulster Unionist Leader David Trimble, who stands poised to be appointed as leader of the newly elected multi-party government in Northern Ireland, said his party would work through the difficulties.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"The thing you should focus on is the Ulster Unionist Party is going into this assembly as the largest party in the assembly; and its going there determined to overcome the difficulties that there undoubtedly will be. The party will shoulder its responsibilities."
SUPER CAPTION: David Trimble, Leader of Ulster Unionist Party
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