Police praise after town parade

Protesters played Lambeg drums at police lines in Ballymena

Police have praised those with influence in the loyalist and republican communities for helping avert trouble at a Ballymena parade.

Several hundred loyalists staged a protest over the first republican parade in the town.

Loyalists played Lambeg drums for several minutes in a protest at the march which commemorates the introduction of internment in 1971.

Protesters dispersed peacefully after a stand off with police in riot gear.

The Parades Commission had restricted the march to the nationalist Fisherwick estate in the County Antrim Town.

Some stones were later thrown at the junction of Suffolk and Sommerfield Streets in the town, but no-one was injured.

Earlier, the local police chief said feelings were running high over the parade.

Superintendent Terry Shevlin said: "There has been considerable tensions in respect of this parade.

"The Parades Commission did make a determination restricting the parade to Fisherwick Gardens. That alleviated some of the tensions in the community.

"However, feelings are still running high about this very first republican parade in the town."

Recent loyalist attacks on pubs and Catholic churches in the area have been linked by police to the parade.

Internment was introduced in 1971 and ended in 1975

The SDLP had called for the parade to be called off, saying both sides of the community are opposed to it.

Sinn Fein said it did not organise the parade and had also urged those behind it to "choose the moral high ground" and call it off.

Police increased patrols in and around Ballymena following a number of attacks by loyalist paramilitaries in the area last month.

Arsonists targeted a bar in Martinstown and the remains of petrol bombs were found at a pub in Rasharkin.

Crebilly Catholic church on the outskirts of Ballymena and All Saints Church on the Broughshane Road were daubed with paint in the attacks.

The remains of a petrol bomb were found at the Glens Way Tavern on the Glenravel Road in Martinstown.

Internment was a policy introduced by the British government.

On 9 August 1971, security forces attempted to arrest more than 400 republicans in a dawn raid.

Three days of serious violence following the raids led to 23 deaths, but internment stayed in place until 1975.

The Parades Commission was set up in 1997 to make decisions on whether or not restrictions should be imposed on controversial parades during Northern Ireland's marching season.