The Guardian Like old prizefighters whose days of triumph are long gone, Orangemen and the RUC were circling each other warily yesterday, ready for the latest battle over the most contentious stretch of Tarmac in western Europe. Only this time, even Portadown is jaded at the prospect of annual farce, and it seemed unlikely Drumcree 6 would prove a blockbuster. More than 2,000 extra troops have been drafted in to help the police as the Co Armagh town prepares for the first of two parades in consecutive weeks, and plans to seal off the hill around the Church of Ascension are there to be quickly implemented. But the police were yesterday taking it easy, and the landscape remains relatively unscarred. One businessman sighed as he faced up to another yearly slump in trade.
Most people are sick of the whole thing.
They should put the lot of them on a boat and push it out into the middle of the Atlantic. Portadown Orangemen believe Tony Blair reneged on a tacit promise to allow them to march last autumn if they walked away from confrontation, as they did. So they intend to step up their two-year protest, with marches tomorrow and next Sunday. We were on a promise from Tony Blair last year that if it was peaceful we would get down at some point, but he sold us out. I know it's not a very nice thing to say about your own prime minister, but he lied to us.