SECRETARY of State Theresa Villiers has backed the Parades Commission after its decision to ban Orangemen from passing north Belfast's flashpoint Ardoyne area on the return leg of their Twelfth march.
She refused to comment on specific rulings but said the body had her "full confidence".
Orange Order leaders and several unionist politicians have called for the commission's abolition.
Ms Villiers, pictured, said its decision did not justify violence. "This decision did provoke concern in parts of the community but that doesn't justify or make violence inevitable," she said. "There are other ways to express concern and there are far better ways to get a solution - by dialogue. "The Parades Commission have my full confidence and anyone who seeks to disobey their determinations is risking the kind of scenes we have seen. "No-one is defending unionism by throwing bricks at police officers. "This is undermining the very cause the Orange Order says it supports." Ms Villiers was criticised by loyalists last week for failing to intervene after the ruling.
The Conservative MP said she had no power to intervene.
Yesterday, speaking on BBC Northern Ireland's Sunday Politics programme, she said: "I think everyone needs to reflect on how we can all encourage calm in this situation. "It is shameful, the violence we have seen on the streets of Belfast. "This just undermines Northern Ireland's ability to compete in the world for jobs and investment and it is essential that it stops. "It is important for the Orange Order to reflect on their role here. "I know they are angry. I understand they are angry about the Parades Commission determination but bringing people out onto the streets was part of the problem."