N.Ireland's Orange Order hold July 12 parades with Brexit tensions high

Band members take part in unionist Twelfth celebrations in Belfast, Northern Ireland, July 12, 2021. REUTERS/Jason Cairnduff

BELFAST (Reuters) - Thousands of members of Northern Ireland's Orange Order began to take part in parades across the region on Monday with the peak of the annual marching closely watched this year due to anger among pro-British unionists at post-Brexit trade barriers.

The July 12 parades have often been the spark for violence, even after a 1998 peace deal largely ended three decades of conflict between Catholic nationalists aspiring to unification with Ireland and Protestant unionists seeking to retain the status quo.