Over 550 parades are being held throughout Northern Ireland to commemorate the Twelfth of July, featuring the Orange Order and hundreds of marching bands on Friday (July 12).
Restrictions on a controversial march in north Belfast near the Ardoyne Shops have already been put in place by the Parades Commission and in order to join the parade, applications must have been submitted to and approved in advance by commission.Approximately two thirds of the police force, or 4,000 officers, are on duty in Northern Ireland. Last year, over £4 million was spent on the policing operation over the Twelfth event.In an interview with BBC Northern Ireland's Good Morning Ulster, Orange Order grand secretary Reverend Mervyn Gibson stated that he didn't see "any appetite for violence, certainly not from our side and I don’t think from any sides".
