THE Parades Commission has intervened to prevent a clash between pro and anti-abortion rallies being held in Belfast on the same day.
The Rally for Life and Rally for Choice are both scheduled to take place in the city centre on Saturday afternoon.
The two parades, which could bring up to 4,500 rival activists onto the streets of Belfast, had both been scheduled to begin at 2pm.
But the Parades Commission, which has marked the events as 'sensitive', has imposed conditions in a bid to avoid an overlap between the groups.
It is thought to be one of the few times the body has had to rule on parades that are not split along nationalist or unionist lines.
Rally for Choice will now begin at the earlier time at 1.30pm, leaving from Buoy Park on Donegall Street for its parade through the city.
Just 700 yards away Rally for Life, which alternates annually between Dublin and Belfast, will set off from Custom House Square at 2.30pm.
In its Rally for Life determination, the Parades Commission said: "The commission is required to consider this parade due to its potential coincidence in timing with another parade organised by Rally for Choice.
"The commission has clarified the timings of each parade, and other assurances from both organisers, that the two parades should not coincide in timing in the city centre.
"In an attempt to avoid this, the organisers of both parades have changed their respective start times.
"The commission has reviewed the routes and times of both parades and understands that while they are close in timing, the parades should not interfere with each other in the city centre."
Participants in both camps have also been warned to refrain from "provocative, threatening, abusive, insulting or lewd" language or behaviour.
Rally for Choice organisers expect around 500 people to take part in their event.
They say they want people to "join in solidarity to show we won't tolerate the criminalisation of women who have abortions".
Their route will loop through Belfast city centre, passing along Donegall Street, Royal Avenue and past city hall.
Meanwhile, organisers of the annual All Ireland Rally for Life expect around 4,000 participants.
They say the event is being held to help "save the lives of innocent babies".
The parade will move from Custom House Square and walk along High Street, Castle Street, Donegal Place, Chichester Street, Victoria Street and then back to its starting point.
Abortion continues to be a divisive issue in Northern Ireland and was a prominent topic during the assembly election campaign last month.
Last week it emerged that a working group proposed to discuss the issue of fatal foetal abnormality and report back by the end of June had still not been officially established.
The group was proposed in February when First Minister Arlene Foster asked then health minister Simon Hamilton to set up a panel to examine the issue.
