here is another side to the argument:on the 15th of August 1998 the Parades Commission allowed a parade by the Ancient Order of Hibernians which is a Catholic organisation to proceed through the prodominetly Protestant town of Kilkeel in Co Down.
The Orange Order had no objection to this parade taking place taking into account CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTIES FOR ALL. WHAT THEY DID OBJECT TO WAS THAT THIS PARADE WAS PERMITTED TO PROCEED WHILE ORANGEMEN IN PORTADOWN WHERE NOT ALLOWED THE SAME BASIC RIGHTS. To this end the Orange Order did not engage in demonstrations against this traditional parade in Kilkeel.
It was however regretable that many of the bands on parade in Kilkeel broke conditions laid down by the Parades Commission and to date no action has been taken. The Orange Order would again voice its concerns that the unelected QUANGO Parades Commission is incapable of acting in an impartial manner and would seem to act in a positve manner with those who are still engaged in violence.

200 years Orange members of the local Scotch-Irish community in Portadown have taken part in a parade and religious service in the small church on Drumcree Hill. Since the era of Napoleon these parades have passed off peacefully, and community relations in the town remained amicable.
Five years ago all this changed. The IRA, a Libyan-backed terrorist group responsible for the deaths of over 2000 innocent people, together with its political allies in Sinn Fein embarked on a policy of segregationism aimed at creating Catholic ghetto areas from which the IRA could draw recruits. Eradicating outside influence on Catholic areas was of course a key element to this strategy, and with this in mind a host of so-called "residents groups" were "spontaneously" brought into being across Northern Ireland.
These groupings, generally fronted by dependable IRA men, campaigned for Orange religious parades to be banned from 'their' areas. This campaign is combined with the similar "Disband the RUC" campaign, aimed at crippling our police service and enabling IRA gunmen to impose 'peoples justice' on their communities.
On 5 July 1998, Portadown Orangemen were refused 'permission' to walk along the Garvaghy Road, the main arterial route to Portadown town centre from the annual church service at Drumcree Parish Church. This route has been in use since the first Orange service at Drumcree in the year 1807. This makes Drumcree the oldest Orange church service in the entire world. It is central to our sense of identity, our sense of belonging as a community, and was therefore seen by the IRA/SinnFein as an ideal target to attack.
The decision to ban the parade from the Garvaghy Road was taken by an unelected, unaccountable Government body called the "Parades Commission". Most people on this commission have no understanding of our culture and are desperate to make concessions to the IRA to stem the threat of more killings.
Our community has always viewed the law as the cornerstone of our democracy and our civilisation. But we cannot accept that an unelected commission should have the right to prevent us from upholding the faith and traditions of our forefathers. We had to take a stand for civil rights, and, supported by the majority of people here in Northern Ireland, we have done just that.
It is in this context that our struggle for civil rights and a de-segregated Northern Ireland should be viewed."
This campaign against peaceful, traditional and lawful Orange parades is organised by Sinn Fein/IRA and is part of an overall strategy waged by IRA terrorists against the peace-loving people of Northern Ireland. For thirty years, they have waged a terrorist war against the people of Northern Ireland, both Catholics and Protestant.
Thousands have been murdered and countless victims have been injured, paralysed, blinded and mutilated by IRA bullets and bombs. One particularly horrifying IRA tactic has been the use of nail-studded baseball bats to beat up their victims. These bats have inflicted horrific injuries - such beatings are particularly directed against members of the Catholic community who dare speak out against Sinn Fein.
Our cities and towns have been blown asunder time and time again by massive IRA car bombs. To date, in this 'peace process'; not one ounce of semtex or one bullet has been decommissioned by the terrorists.
The Orange Institution has been a particular focus for IRA agitation because it is the only organisation that unites all classes of Protestants, all Protestant religious denominations and all shades of Unionism under its all encompassing banner. Over the past few years there has been a deliberate campaign of agitation against law abiding Orangemen and their faith. Orange parades are a legitimate expression of religious and cultural identity held by the Protestant community of Northern Ireland, indeed Orange parades take place in every corner of the world from England to America and Ghana to Australia. They are not offensive, are not political and are not staged purely to annoy members of the Roman Catholic community, as some commentators would have people believe. Many in the Catholic community have written to Orangemen to express their support for the right of Orangemen to express their culture and heritage.
The Orangemen of Portadown are engaged in a campaign for 'Civil and Religious liberty' for all the citizens of Northern Ireland both Roman Catholic and Protestant. We are determined and resolute as we hold aloft the torch of freedom at Drumcree.
Twice this century we Britons have been forced to fight, against all odds, to defend our freedom. Just as we stood alongside America against the Nazi threat, so too we now stand determined and resolute as we hold aloft the torch of freedom at Drumcree.
Martin Luther King was once imprisoned for leading a civil rights parade against segregation in an area of the South where racist views predominated. He stood not for the rights of blacks, nor for the rights of whites, but for the civil liberties of all Americans, of every race, creed and colour.
Like Martin Luther King we have taken the stand we have on behalf of all the people of Northern Ireland, Protestant and Catholic, who have had enough of terrorist-enforced segregation, of being ordered around by sectarian IRA and UVF gunmen and bombers. We want to reach out beyond the sectarian divide, to break down the walls of segregation that cause so much misunderstanding and hatred.
Our Vision is for Peace. Our Plea is for Justice. Our Dream is for a Shared Northern Ireland in which Equality, and not Segregation, prevails.
We may not have the access to Irish-American money, we may not be able to finance the kind of polished propaganda campaigns that Sinn Fein and the IRA are expert at, but we know that Truth is on our side and that, eventually, we will see the pure light of Justice and Peace at the end of the tunnel.
Here we stand - We can do no other

There are approximately 900 houses along the disputed 600 metre stretch of the Garvaghy Road.
Only 66 houses face directly onto the Garvaghy and Drumcree Roads.
Less than 10 houses (less that 1%) have addresses actually on the Garvaghy Road.
75% of the houses are between 100 - 600 metres away from the Garvaghy Road.
It is impossible to see the Garvaghy Road from the vast majority of the houses along it.
It was statistics similar to these compiled in 1985 and 1986 that enabled the RUC to approve the Garvaghy Road as a main route to the Orange Hall in Portadown.
The Estates Off the Garvaghy Road - The Facts
Churchill Park - Contains approximately 200 houses. Only 5 of which face directly onto the Garvaghy Road.
The Beeches - Contains approximately 100 houses Only 5 of which face directly onto the Garvaghy Road.
Garvaghy Park - Contains approximately 100 houses. Only 10 of which face directly onto the Garvaghy Road
Ballyoran Park - Contains approximately 500 houses. Only 46 of which face directly onto the Garvaghy Road and Drumcree Roads.