Marching season reaches climax

Parades are taking place across Northern Ireland

Thousands of Orangemen have taken part in rallies across Northern Ireland to mark the climax of the Protestant marching season.

The parades by the Orange Order commemorate the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 which saw Prince William of Orange defeat the Catholic forces of King James.

They came a day before the resumption of talks aimed at moving forward the deadlocked Northern Ireland political process.

On Wednesday, the British and Irish prime ministers said three days of intense talks in England on the process had given them fresh hope the issues could be resolved.

The main sticking points remain the issues of IRA arms decommissioning, policing and British Army demilitarisation.

They will resume on Friday at a hotel in Staffordshire and will involve the main pro-Agreement parties.

But the Grand Master of the Orange Order has called on the unionist parties to withdraw from the talks.

Robert Saulters was speaking at a demonstration in Benburb, County Tyrone, and said it was time to "pull the plug".

An Orange boy delivers a letter of protest to the mayor

The contentious marching season has been marked by less protest than in previous years but marred by some violence.

Security forces used water cannon against loyalists after being attacked with a blast bomb at an Eleventh Night bonfire in Portadown.

The Royal Ulster Constabulary also baton charged the group of several hundred loyalists at the gathering on the Corcrain Estate in County Armagh - an area which saw serious rioting last year.

Local community leaders complained at what they claim was heavy-handed policing.

Ulster Unionist councillor Sydney Anderson said: "This is not right against the people of this town.

"One or two people may have thrown a petrol bomb but you can't take it out on a whole community."

However, RUC Deputy Assistant Chief Constable Cyril Donnan said claims that police used excessive force were "absolute nonsense" and that the violence was orchestrated.

Elsewhere in Northern Ireland, there was almost no trouble at bonfires.

Volley of shots

In Belfast, loyalist paramilitaries put on so-called shows of strength at Eleventh night bonfires.

Loyalist gunmen fired shots in front of a crowd

The Ulster Freedom Fighters fired shots in front of a crowd of about 200, off the Shankill Road, before midnight on Wednesday.

Masked Ulster Volunteer Force members fired handguns while a third fired shots from an assault rifle at a bonfire in nearby Northumberland Street,

Orangemen paraded to a total of 19 venues with the two main demonstrations in Belfast and Londonderry.

As the parade set off on Thursday in Belfast, crowds gathered in the city centre to watch the province's largest demonstration as it wound its way to "the field" in Edenderry.

Meanwhile, Londonderry Orangemen refused to join the main parade through the Waterside in protest at the Parades Commission decision to ban visiting lodges from the mainly nationalist Cityside.

The local Orange lodge, which was the only lodge permitted to march in the Cityside, paraded to police lines where a letter of protest was handed over.

The RUC said they came under sporadic petrol and paint bomb attacks in the nationalist Gobnascale area of Derry on Thursday afternoon.

Officers chased after a gang and recovered a petrol bomb and a container. There were no arrests.

Sinn Fein said the RUC had gone into Gobnascale in a heavy handed manner.

In south Belfast, Ballynafeigh Lodge protested at security barriers at Ormeau Bridge against the decision to ban them from the Lower Ormeau Road.