Conditions at the Drumcree stand-off deteriorated last night following heavy showers and the arrival of an estimated 5,000 Orangemen from county lodges in Down and Tyrone.
They paraded to the barrier at Drumcree in support of the Portadown district's resolve to walk down the Garvaghy Road, with some later retreating to the field, where conditions became muddy alongside the trench separating protesters from the no man's land between them and the security forces.
The Down and Tyrone Orangemen attended as part of a staggered series of protests involving all county lodges in the North. On Tuesday night an estimated 7,000 Orangemen from Derry and Fermanagh were at Drumcree, and tonight it is expected a contingent from Antrim will be there. Antrim Orangemen also took part in last Sunday's parade.
Yesterday the stand-off scene was visited again by the DUP leader, the Rev Ian Paisley, who has been there every day since it began. He was accompanied by party colleague the Rev William McCrea, another daily visitor.
The leader of the UK Unionist party, Mr Bob McCartney, visited for the first time yesterday, and was accompanied by his party colleague Mr Cedric Wilson.
All four politicians had a meeting with the Armagh County Grand Master of the Orange Order, Mr Denis Watson, in the parochial hall next to Drumcree Church. Mr Watson will be part of the Orange delegation which meets the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, today.
Dr Paisley claims to have arranged the meeting with Mr Blair. He said that he called the Secretary of State, Dr Mo Mowlam, on Monday night and asked her to set it up. Within 10 minutes she had done so, he said. He wondered whether the quick response might have been because there were so many people outside her house (about 1,000 protesting Orangemen are at Hillsborough).
Commenting on the barracking of the North's Deputy First Minister, Mr Seamus Mallon, and local Assembly member Ms Brid Rodgers, by people at Garvaghy Road on Tuesday night, Dr Paisley claimed that "what happened with the residents' group shows how intransigent they are". He said: "If that's how they treated Mallon, how can you expect Orangemen to deal with that crowd?"
Addressing the issue of recent violence Mr McCartney rejected the notion that the Orange Order might bear some responsibility. He said that "situations like this offer opportunities for criminal elements to settle old scores with police."
At 4.30 p.m. about 100 women from Portadown paraded to the stand-off scene in pouring rain. They too met Mr Watson. Generally numbers at the protest yesterday afternoon were down on previous days, though the mood is upbeat. A sinister air evident there on Monday has evaporated as Orangemen and their less restrained supporters await developments from the efforts of Mr Trimble and Mr Mallon, as well as the meeting with Mr Blair.
