Mr David Trimble has warned that a Parades Commission decision banning the Orange Order from marching in a nationalist part of west Belfast on Saturday could jeopardise efforts to ensure a calm marching season.
The Ulster Unionist leader described the decision to prevent the annual Orange Order Whiterock Parade marching down the nationalist Springfield Road as "terrible". He accused the commission of being "excessively narrow, bureaucratic and legalistic".
Last year was notable for the manner in which most contentious parades, including Drumcree, passed off relatively peacefully.
This was as a result of intense, mostly behind-the-scenes, work involving politicians, the Orange Order and community activists.
Similar efforts are continuing this year. The Whiterock decision, however, has infuriated unionists and loyalists with the DUP leader, the Rev Ian Paisley promising to raise the matter with the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, in Downing Street on Friday when Mr Blair and the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, hold talks with the parties.
Last year's Whiterock Parade was generally trouble-free but some loyalist supporters waved UVF flags and the presence of a band from the UVF's junior wing triggered nationalist annoyance.
This week the Parades Commission banned the Orange Order marching along the Springfield Road on Saturday as it would have "an adverse effect on relationships in the community".
Mr Trimble, who raised the matter with the Northern Secretary, Mr Paul Murphy, yesterday, said the decision should be overturned. Otherwise "there is a serious danger not just of difficulties on Saturday but of us actually losing all the progress that was made, and finding the interfaces reverting to the position they were in two years ago", he said
