A homecoming parade through Belfast tomorrow for soldiers of the Royal Irish Regiment returning from service in Afghanistan has put Northern Ireland on high alert, with all police leave cancelled and fears of violent protest.

The tension has steadily built all week, culminating in the decision yesterday to cancel a Royal Air Force flypast as part of the ceremony.

The head of the Army in Northern Ireland, Major-General Chris Brown, also said that none of the troops taking part in the parade would be carrying weapons. His announcement was swiftly followed by one from Sinn Fein announcing that it was rerouting its own protest march away from the city centre. But that still leaves the hardline republican group Eirigi, which has promised to demonstrate, for the police to tackle.

The cancellation of the flypast also inflamed Unionists, who accused General Brown of “pandering” to republicans. Danny Kennedy, the Ulster Unionist Party’s deputy leader, called it “absolutely disgusting”.

The dispute comes amid a lengthy political stand-off between Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionist Party, the Province’s two largest parties, which lead a power-sharing government.

The power-sharing Executive has not met since June because Sinn Fein is angry that the DUP has not agreed to the devolution of policing powers from Westminster or an Irish Language Act, both elements of the deal that brought the Rev Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness, the former Provisional IRA commander, together in the unlikeliest of political pacts.

With no sign of the impasse ending soon, the chief constable, Sir Hugh Orde, has given warning that the political vacuum is helping so-called dissident republicans in their attempts to reorganise an armed violent campaign against British rule. If serious unrest does break out, the death of power-sharing may be hastened by the sound of angry voices and marching feet.

Police fear that the homecoming parade will act as a lightning conductor for extremists on both sides, a view supported by anecdotal evidence canvassed by The Times among loyalists and republicans.

Eirigi, a relatively new grouping, intends to hold its own protest rally and is bringing in supporters from the countryside by coach. Loyalists are also expected to be on the streets in an unofficial capacity.

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