A Church of Ireland bishop has said Northern Ireland faces a crunch weekend in the countdown to tomorrow's controversial Orange Order parade at Drumcree.
The Bishop of Derry and Raphoe, Dr James Mehaffey, was speaking yesterday after he had inspected fire damage following an early-morning arson attack on St Peter's Protestant church at Culmore on the outskirts of Derry.
A taxi-driver saw smoke and contacted the emergency services be fore tackling the fire, in the church vestry, with a fire extinguisher. Fire damage was confined to the vestry but there was widespread smoke damage.
Police in Derry are also investigating an arson attack on a building owned by the Presbyterian Church at Ballyarnet, in Derry's mainly Catholic west bank area.
Dr Mehaffey said neither St Peter's Church nor its parishioners threatened anyone.
"It is a terrible shock, and usually that leads to anger. Because of events, political and otherwise, there is a tremendous amount of tension in the community. We are all holding our breath about the Drumcree situation. That is a very serious situation because, while it may happen in Drumcree, the implications affect everyone in the North of Ireland.
"If it goes badly wrong, as it has done in the past, I think the divisions will be really, really deep. It will have a very serious effect on community relations generally."