THOUSANDS of Orangemen and supporters will take to the streets of east Belfast tomorrow night in one of the largest demonstrations to mark the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme.
The annual demonstration, which will be one of more than 100 parades taking place across the north, is expected to be larger than usual with lodges from Hillsborough, Holywood and Whitehead taking part.
Around 50 lodges and 40 bands are due to take part in the parade, which is expected to leave Templemore Avenue at 7.30pm.
It comes just days after a proposed deal to end a long-running dispute between the Orange Order and a nationalist residents group in north Belfast collapsed.
The deal would have meant an Orange parade, prevented from returning to Ligoniel in 2013, would have been completed tomorrow morning.
A loyalist protest camp at Twaddell Avenue would then have been dismantled.
Recent figures revealed that last year's east Belfast parade, which saw the erection of a steel security barrier along the Albertbridge Road near the Short Strand interface, cost more than £160,000 to police.
