By Lisa Mitchell BBC News Online, Drumcree

Tension drained away from the usually volatile event

Just 10 minutes after the Orangemen of Portadown staged their annual parade at Drumcree, policemen in riot gear were pulling off their helmets and settling down to a cup of tea.

A few years ago it would have been just the start of their operation.

But this year, the police operation was scaled back.

The marching bands heralded their arrival, as the parade of 650 or so men made its way up the winding road to Drumcree Parish Church.

A few people had come to watch from nearby fields, but they were far outnumbered by soldiers and policemen crouched behind a metal fence designed to keep the marching Orangemen away from mainly Catholic Garvaghy Road.

Police officers and soldiers had been there from the early hours.

As the parade started from the Orange Hall in Portadown, the police men and women stripped down to their flame retardant thermals beside their vans.

Barricade

First on went the armoured shinpads, then shoulder and forearm shields. And on top, flameproof overalls.

Rioters in the past, had had the habit of throwing petrol bombs at security forces.

This time, they were back at their vans soon after the parade finished and tucking into large lunchboxes.

The Orangemen had marched down to the large metal barricade and delivered a written complaint to a senior policeman.

An Orangeman reiterated that complaint over a loud speaker to the applause and vigorous flag waving of the 1,000 or so gathered in the country lane.

Unison

They then turned on their heels and marched back up the hill, their white-gloved hands flashing in unison.

That left just a few in orange collarets not with the main section to hang around the barrier, making their own protests and having their pictures taken.

Soldiers, who had taken up positions behind the barrier, returned to their makeshift camp.

Assistant Chief Constable Stephen White, who had been in charge of the police operation, said Drumcree was normally a tinderbox for the rest of the Protestant marching season.

Compared to the trouble of some previous years, this year it was more of a damp squib.