Blast in Ulster as tension mounts

By Thomas Abraham

LONDON, JULY 9. A car bomb exploded outside a police station in Northern Ireland, hours before a controversial Protestant parade at the town of Portadown was due to begin.

Police and security forces are preparing for a wave of Protestant anger after the parade was banned from marching down a predominantly Catholic road. The Orange Order march has been a flash point for communal anger in recent years, and despite the vast progress that has been made towards implementing the Northern Ireland peace agreement, this year seems no different.

Police and the army have erected huge barriers along the predominantly Catholic Garvaghy Road in the Portadown, to ensure that the Orange marches do not get through. Protestors threw petrol bombs at the barricades last night, and hijacked cars and a bus in nearby County Antrim.

The Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair, in a letter to the Orange Order, made an appeal for calm which appeared to be unlikely to be heeded. He appealed to the Orangemen to ``do everything possible to avoid tension and violence - violence that can only rebound on the whole community in Portadown and Northern Ireland more generally.''

The Orange Order is an organisation committed to preserving Northern Ireland's Protestant traditions, which does largely by taking out parades commemorating various Protestant victories. The Catholics see these marches as a provocative reminder of their minority status in Northern Ireland, but the vast majority of marches pass without incident.

The parade at Drumcree in Portadown is notorious for the passions it provokes. The Portadown Orange order holds a parade on the second Sunday of every July from their headquarters to a picturesque church on Drumcree hill, on the outskirts of the town. For several years, they have returned to town along the Garvaghy Road, a predominantly Catholic road. The Catholics residents have protested against the parade passing in front of their houses, and the Orange Order has insisted on its right to march where it pleases.

After violent clashes broke out on several occasions between the residents and the marchers, a Government-appointed commission decided to ban the Orange Order from going down Garvaghy Road. Hardline Protestants have reacted violently to the ban for the last three years.

This year, there is added tension after reports that a Protestant paramilitary organisation, the Ulster Freedom Fighters, had threatened to kill ``a Catholic a day'' in retaliation for the rerouting of the parade.

The spokesman for the Catholic Garvaghy Road Residents Association, Mr. Brendan McCionnath, said he expected a Protestant backlash, and said, ``I have no doubt that between Sunday and July 12, we will witness mayhem and possibly murder on the streets as a result of the Orange Order's actions.''

Protests are likely to continue through the week, culminating on July 12, a high point in the Orange Order's calendar when it commemorates the 17th century victory of the Protestant King William of Orange over the Catholic King James.

The Portadown Orangemen have called on members across Northern Ireland to observer a four-hour protest on Monday afternoon, a potential flashpoint for violence.

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