About 400 loyalists, marching behind a number of bands, demonstrated in Portadown, Co Armagh, last night in protest at the parade ban imposed on the Drumcree Orangemen.
The RUC, backed up by the British army, prevented the demonstrators from marching down the nationalist Garvaghy Road. The loyalists subsequently staged a sit-down protest at Park Road, close to the Garvaghy estate.
Mr Breandan Mac Cionnaith, the spokesman for the Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition, complained that last night's protest was only one of a number of illegal demonstrations which had been held near the Garvaghy Road in recent weeks. He said that the RUC and the British army should take action to prevent loyalists getting so close to the estate.
Two British soldiers were injured last night when they were struck by a train while taking part the security operation mounted in Portadown in response to the loyalist protest.
One soldier suffered a suspected fractured pelvis in the accident, which occurred near Shillington's Bridge. Police said that the second soldier had been less seriously injured.
Last night's demonstration was the latest in a series of illegal protests resulting from the ban imposed on Orangemen parading down the Garvaghy Road during the Twelfth celebrations earlier this month.
An RUC spokesman said that the demonstration was being investigated and it was expected that a number of people would be reported with a view to prosecution.