A BAN placed on a controversial loyalist parade passing along the Garvaghy Road in Portadown was last night still in place. The DUP had earlier claimed that the Parades Commission was reviewing its decision to prohibit the march. Originally, the commission had decided to allow two bands and up to 200 supporters to walk along a stretch of the Garvaghy Road, which the marchers called Victoria Terrace. Both the Garvaghy Road residents and the SDLP met with the commission to voice their anger about the decision, while Sinn Fein made written submissions. The commission then did a U-turn and decided to ban the march, which is due to take place tomorrow. It claimed it had changed its mind because of new information brought to its attention - that an Orange arch in the area would be contentious and that migrants lived nearby. However, yesterday, after a DUP delegation met with the Parades Commission, the party claimed the body had agreed to review the decision again. DUP MP David Simpson said: "We are getting a review which was our aim and objective. "We gave them new evidence, fact-based evidence and I think that is important - surveys which had been carried out in the area by some of our local members." However, last night a spokesman for the Parades Commission said its decision to ban the march "remains in place". "Where the commission receives a review request and determines that it does not contain new information or representations, the standard letter rejecting the review application states the commission's willingness to meet the person making the re-view request to discuss the issues or to provide clarification." Following the Parades Commission statement, Breandan Mac Cionnaith, spokesman of the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition (GRRC), said: "Tensions in the area are already high and it's clear that the DUP is trying to exploit those tensions as an opportunity to engage in selfish political grandstanding. "We have again this evening asked everyone in our community to re-main calm and not to heed this DUP propaganda."
