There were a few minor disturbances in the Bogside with several cars and a lorry set alight ahead of Saturday's march.

The police made several arrests but the parade itself passed off peacefully.

A number of small feeder parades also passed off without incident.

The governor of the Apprentice Boys, William Allen, said he was disappointed by the trouble.

"There will always be trouble, it does not matter how many parades you have there will always be someone who will come along to cause disruption," he said.

"It is something you accept.

There were a small number of individuals on both sides who sought to provoke a reaction but the vast majority quietly and wisely ignored them and got on with the business of enjoying the day out Dawson Cotton Chief Superintendent

"You don't like it, you don't want it but there is nothing you can do about it really."

Saturday's march is the largest Loyal Order demonstration in Northern Ireland.

After a small parade in the loyalist Fountain estate, local Apprentice Boys completed a walk of Derry's historic walls.

The wreath laying ceremony at the war memorial in the Diamond was followed by a religious service in St Columb's Cathedral.

The Siege of Derry in 1688 was re-enacted before marchers began the main parade about lunchtime.

As the marchers were passing through the Diamond area, a banner was unfurled at the top of the Richmond shopping centre in support of republican prisoners who are demanding segregation at Maghaberry jail in County Antrim.

A lorry was hijacked and burnt out hours before the parade began

Chief Superintendent Dawson Cotton praised the behaviour of the local people and the Apprentice Boys at the parade.

He said they had contributed to the most trouble free parade so far.

"There were a small number of individuals on both sides who sought to provoke a reaction but the vast majority quietly and wisely ignored them and got on with the business of enjoying the day out," he said.

Meanwhile in Belfast, a number of "feeder" parades through nationalist areas passed off peacefully.

A small group of nationalist protesters congregated at Ardoyne shops in north Belfast but there was no trouble.

Sinn Fein strongly criticised the Parades Commission's decision to allow the Apprentice Boys to march past the Ardoyne and Mountainview areas on Saturday.

The government established the Parades Commission in 1998 to make decisions on whether controversial parades should be restricted.

Commission rulings restricting marches by the Protestant loyal orders, which are opposed by nationalist residents, have led to calls by unionist politicians for the body to be scrapped.