While remaining defiant in their determination to walk down the nationalist Garvaghy Road, leading Orangemen yesterday issued a plea to loyalists to keep all protests peaceful.
At around 10 a.m. hundreds of spectators applauded as several thousand Orangemen left Carleton Street Orange Hall in the centre of Portadown to make their way up to the little church on Drumcree hill.
Apart from one accordion band, the Orangemen walked to the beat of a single drum. The band stopped playing when the marchers passed St John's Catholic church, although there were a few heckles from nationalist residents, who were kept away by barbed wire and lines of RUC officers.
After the church service, six members of Portadown District Lodge walked up to the security barricade to hand over a letter of protest to a senior RUC officer.
The Orangemen then dispersed to attend a rally in a nearby field.
Addressing the rally, the Portadown District Master, Mr Harold Gracey, told members not to get involved in any violent protests.
"As long as you keep it peaceful, you are always welcome here. If it is not peaceful, Harold Gracey will not be here. I have stood on the hill for a year and I have always been peaceful. To those who are intent on causing trouble, I would just say: Don't come."
But Mr Gracey again stated the Orange Order's determination to walk down Garvaghy Road. He said he considered he was "entitled to walk any road without asking anybody for permission", and added: "We will be staying here, make no mistake about that. We will be staying here until such times when we will be allowed our civil right to walk a public road."
He expressed his thanks to the rector of Drumcree church, the Rev John Pickering, and his family and said Mr Pickering had stood "shoulder to shoulder with the Orangemen of Portadown since day one".
The County Armagh Grand Master, Mr Denis Watson, said he was sad other clergy had not been able to take the same stand as Mr Pickering.
Mr Gracey criticised the Church of Ireland and its Primate, Archbishop Robin Eames, who had attempted to withdraw the church's invitation to the Orange Order, and said: "I hope that the ecumenical clergy can see that their way is not our way."
Mr Watson added that he hoped the Orange Order's exemplary conduct would persuade the British Prime Minister to overturn the Parades Commission's decision.
"The Prime Minister has told us on a number of occasions that the Orange Institution has taken bold and imaginative steps," he said.
He also read from what he alleged was a copy of minutes of a Sinn Fein meeting in Newry last week, which indicated Mr Gerry Adams MP and Mr Martin McGuinness MP would be on the Garvaghy Road yesterday.
People could draw their own conclusions as to whether the protests against the parade were truly the wishes of residents or a republican campaign, Mr Watson added.
Meanwhile, the RUC said the Chief Constable, Sir Ronnie Flanagan, had contacted Orange leaders to reiterate that the police and British army were carrying out the "lawful determination" of the Parades Commission. The statement was made in response to the order's question of why the march had not been allowed to proceed.
In response to the same question, a Northern Ireland Office statement said the Parades Commission decision was not a long-term solution and praised the dignity of the Orangemen during yesterday's events.
Mr Blair is expected to make a statement regarding Drumcree in the House of Commons today.
There were minor skirmishes at Drumcree last night with stones and fireworks thrown at the RUC.
Around 30 loyalists broke through security lines near the Dungannon Road, spilling onto a field leading to the St John the Baptist Catholic Church. The group was joined by 100 protesters who approached the church graveyard where they taunted nationalist residents. The RUC attempted to disperse the crowd, firing one plastic bullet.
Meanwhile, loyalists last night blocked roads surrounding Ballymena, Co Antrim in a move linked to the Drumcree protests.