By Julian O’Neill, BBC News NI crime and justice correspondent
![Pacemaker Men marching on road in white shirts and black ties](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/f6b5/live/372cf390-2caa-11ef-af93-b7f65a764945.jpg.webp)
Police are investigating an apparent show of strength by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) at an event in east Belfast on Saturday.
Around 1,500 people, including many dressed in white shirts, ties and black trousers, lined part of the Newtownards Road for an annual memorial event, which the PSNI said the Parades Commission had been made aware of.
The police said the procession “passed off without incident”.
A statement added: “A review of evidence gathered will now take place.”
A Parades Commission notice said 107 bands and up to 2,000 people were expected to attend the event organised by the 36th (Ulster) Division Memorial Association.
The parade is held each year for Robert Seymour, a UVF member who was shot dead by the IRA in a shop in east Belfast in 1988.
The attendance of large numbers in paramilitary-style dress has been linked to support for a new leadership of the east Belfast UVF, which was put in place late last year.
Those who formerly ran the faction were stood down after a long association with drug dealing and other criminality.
The application for the event lodged with the Parades Commission stated that it would involve 2,000 people and more than 100 bands.
The route of the parade on Saturday night involved the Newtownards Road, Beersbridge Road, Castlereagh Road and Woodstock Road.
It was scheduled to last almost four hours.
What is the UVF?
![PA A UVF mural featuring two armed and masked men on a blue backdrop](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/8f65/live/c3174390-2cb1-11ef-90be-b75b34b0bbb2.jpg.webp)
The Ulster Volunteer Force murdered more than 500 people during the Troubles.
It was formed in 1966 and adopted the names and symbols of the original UVF, the movement founded in 1912 by Sir Edward Carson to fight against Irish home rule.
The UVF shot dead the first police officer to be murdered during the Troubles.
In recent years, it has been linked to serious criminality including drug dealing.
The East Belfast UVF is one of the major crime-dealing loyalist paramilitary organisations currently in operation and is among four loyalist factions being targeted by the Paramilitary Crime Task Force – the others being the South East Antrim UDA, the West Belfast UDA and North Antrim UDA.