DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds has said that Orangemen camped out in north Belfast in protest should be allowed to finish their Twelfth of July march and return home.

"There must be a solution," said Dodds on Friday at the opening of his party's annual conference.

"The solution comes through dialogue and it comes through common sense.

"We can't have a situation on our streets where people are feeling that there is no fairness, no justice in terms of their rights and about shared space," said the senior politician, according to UTV.

The Parades Commission determined that the Twelfth of July return parade could not use the same route in the afternoon as it had for its outward journey that morning. The decision resulted in a stand-off, with a long-running protest camp established at Twaddell Avenue.

Dodds has said that "respectful" protest should be allowed.

"It can't be about the denial of human rights, which is what's going on at the minute at Twaddell," he said.