The Church of Ireland Primate, Archbishop Robin Eames, has appealed for "restraint and decency throughout the community" in the North.
In a statement issued yesterday, following a meeting with the Parades Commission, he appealed directly to loyalist paramilitaries "not to use the cloak of any protest for acts of violence".
A decision on the July 8th Drumcree parade will be announced by the commission on Monday. "With tension prevalent throughout this community I appeal to everyone to use their influence to remove any excuse for violence, attacks or civil disturbance which will inevitably cause damage to innocent people.
"I accept the depth of feeling on both sides in every parade dispute, but if this province is to be spared widespread disorder, no excuse and no encouragement by word or act must be given to those all too ready to justify or even excuse violence at this time," he said.
The Presbyterian Moderator, Dr Alastair Dunlop, has also warned of "a very difficult time ahead" in the North. Some appeared intent on provoking others into retaliation, he said, while the "declared unwillingness of the IRA" to decommission weapons continued "to be a fundamental moral and political imperative" and had "deepened a crisis in political life".
"In the name of God" he asked that people make choices bearing in mind the needs of neighbours as well as of themselves. He pleaded that people abide by the law at all times and that they show restraint however provoked they might feel. He also asked that they not provoke others and that all those who work for peace to be supported.
