RUC could block Apprentice Boys Derry march
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Your support makes all the difference.Organisers of the Apprentice Boys parade through Londonderry, the next flashpoint in Northern Ireland, yesterday voiced fears at reports that the RUC will try to block their route. A police spokesman said that officers were "considering all options" in the build-up to the parade on 10 August.
William Moore, general secretary of the Apprentice Boys' Association, said they would be bitterly opposed to any attempt to close access to the route around the old city walls, part of which overlooks the nationalist Bogside area.
Such a move could result in a confrontation similar to the one at Drumcree, where Orangemen were involved in a four-day stand-off with security forces before they were allowed to march past a nationalist area of Portadown.
The Apprentice Boys have refused to meet with the Bogside residents' group who last night organised a civil rights march through the city, bringing back memories of similar marches in 1969.
Talks between the SDLP and both sides of the community are continuing and the Northern Ireland Security Minister, Sir John Wheeler, is due in the city in the next few days to help broker an agreement. Unionist and nationalist politicians are trying to agree an agenda for talks.
A full plenary session seems certain to start on Monday and is expected to agree to rules for discussions.
John Major yesterday welcomed progress in the all-party talks at Stormont and urged negotiators to move on from procedural wrangles and get down to talking about real issues as soon as possible.
He said progress was vital because of the near despair that many in the province felt after the events at Drumcree. Describing the behaviour of both communities as "appalling", he insisted that mob rule would not be allowed to win the day.
In a pointed denial of nationalist claims that the Government had caved in to Unionists, Mr Major said that everyone had been losers. "No-one gained from Drumcree," he said in an interview with the BBC in Northern Ireland.
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