THE Parades Commission has banned an Apprentice Boys parade from passing close to a nationalist area of Lurgan on Easter Monday.
The Apprentice Boys had wanted to march close to an interface in the Co Armagh town during two parades at the end of the month.
The Parades Commission ruled on Friday night that up to 61 bands and around 3,600 participants taking part in the Monday afternoon parade must not enter Church Place, which is not far from the republican Kilwilkie estate.
However, a smaller parade taking place earlier in the day and involving two bands and two hundred participants will be allowed to pass along the interface street.
Those bands have been ordered to play only hymn music in Church Place and a section of the route between the junction of Carnegie Street with Market Street and the junction of Market Street with Castle Lane.
Church Place is seen by many as the boundary between the nationalists and unionist parts of the divided town.
Loyalist bands including Cloughfern Young Conquerors and Rathcoole Sons of KAI area expected to take part in the parade which will take around 90 minutes to pass any given point along the route.
The commission said on Friday night that parade organisers had not provided “important information including the rationale for the choice of route and the management of the bands”.
The commission also concluded that the parade “has the potential to impact adversely upon community relations and community life and represents a high potential for public disorder”.
The parade will take place as thousands of republicans across the north mobilise to mark the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising.
In the past tensions connected to loyal order parades passing close to nationalist area have boiled over.
SDLP assembly member for the area Dolores Kelly welcomed he Parades Commission ruling.
“It is a welcome decision and a sensible one given the time and the obvious sensitivities around the centenary,” she said.
Ms Kelly said “an extensive part of the route is still being allowed” adding that she hopes those taking part in the parade abide by the commission’s determination.
