AN application has been submitted to the Parades Commission for a republican procession in the centre of the predominantly unionist village of Markethill in Armagh.

The organisers have listed six bands and 400 marchers but are open to reducing this number.

Dissident republican paramilitary groups have released a joint statement confirming they will not resort to violence if the parade does not proceed, a development republican commentators and some journalists have hailed as very significant.

The parade has been scheduled for Easter Monday, a key date in the republican calendar.

Unionists like me are appalled that some want to re-open the Drumcree dispute

Denis Bradley: Keep the Parades Commission, and create a Border Poll Commission too

An application for a feeder parade has been submitted for the Shankill area of north-west Belfast, with two bands and 50 marchers leaving the Ardoyne republican memorial and passing down Twaddell Avenue, up the Ballygomartin Road and over the West Circular Road, where they will board buses on the Springfield Road to bring them to Markethill.

A second feeder parade will leave Portadown town centre before completing a circular route through the Corcrain estate and returning to its starting point.

A dignified ceremony will........

© The Irish News