Protestant Marchers in N. Ireland Parade Avoid a Confrontation

LONDONDERRY, Northern Ireland —  A huge annual parade by thousands of Protestants passed peacefully in Northern Ireland’s walled second city Saturday, belying fears that it would lead to major sectarian violence.

Members of the pro-British Apprentice Boys organization, celebrating a 17th century Protestant victory over Roman Catholics, marched through the town center and into a Protestant district, avoiding contact with Catholic neighborhoods.

Backing away from a confrontation with police, the marchers had agreed not to parade on the city’s ramparts, which Catholics living nearby would have seen as especially provocative.

Police had erected barbed wire and concrete barricades across a section of the ancient walls after Catholics living in its shadow said a Protestant march there would be offensive. The same march in 1969 ignited the ongoing conflict over British rule in Northern Ireland.

Community leaders and police had approached this weekend apprehensively, with major parades due in many parts of the British province, and British troops were drafted in to Londonderry to prepare for possible violence.