France, Sept. 27 -- The tensions spiked after a court in the early hours of Sunday cleared the march by the Orange Order to go ahead.

The Parades Commission, Northern Ireland's independent body regulating contentious processions, had authorised 35 Orangemen to march silently along Garvaghy Road in Portadown, without bands or supporters from 8:00 am Sunday.

Burnham appealed for "calm on all sides", adding in an interview with BBC television that that "big gains" had been made in Northern Ireland "and we don't want to see things go backwards".

Northern Ireland was blighted for three decades by conflict between largely Catholic, pro-Irish republicans and Protestant, pro-UK unionists, and the Garvaghy Road became a major flashpoint during ...