Loyalists today called off a band parade after objections by representatives of the Chinese community in south Belfast.
The Pride of the Raven said they had withdrawn their application to march on the Donegall Pass on Saturday after a Stormont meeting with Anna Lo, an Alliance Party member of the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Restrictions had earlier been placed on the parade by the Parades Commission after Ms Lo claimed it would be seen as an attempt to intimidate people.
But in a statement confirming the decision to call off the parade, the band secretary George Spence categorically denied it was racist and an attempt to cause disruption on the streets in the run-up to Christmas.
He claimed both the police and Ms Lo apologised after it was alleged that his name and address had been passed to her. The band also hit out at the Commission ruling to restrict the route.
In a statement, he said: "The Parades Commission, which has conducted a vendetta against Pride of the Raven band for several years, responded in the usual way by adding fuel to the fire through slurs and innuendo.
"The band expected nothing less than the draconian determination issued and never intended to fall into any trap the Commission set that was planned to provoke a reaction with the intention of jeopardising future parades in east or south Belfast.
"We look forward to the day soon when parades are not subject to the prejudice of such a discredited, ineffective and malicious body."
PA