Sports · Riyadh Daily
Protesters gather on Garvaghy Road as Orange Order march to go ahead 17 minutes ago Declan Harvey and Darran Marshall, BBC News NI Reuters The Garvaghy Road remains blocked ahead of the Orange Order march which has to set off before 08:00 BST A controversial Orange Order parade is set to go ahead on Sunday morning in a nationalist part of Northern Ireland for the first time in nearly 30 years. Following a series of legal challenges, the High Court ruled in the early hours of Sunday that an initial decision by the Parades Commission to allow the Drumcree march to take place in Portadown had to be respected. Hundreds of people have gathered on the Garvaghy Road ahead of the march, which can set off no later than 08:00 BST.
Some are linking arms and singing songs. Police are monitoring the situation and dozens of armoured vehicles have arrived in the town. The Drumcree parade, which in the 1990s sparked some of the most serious disorder in Northern Ireland's history, had been given permission to go ahead along the Garvaghy Road with restrictions in place.
However that decision was challenged in several Belfast courts on Saturday, before finally being given the go ahead just hours before it is due to take place. Police officers are operating checkpoints on the main roads into Portadown, and they are reporting a steady stream of vehicles arriving into the County Armagh town. Drivers are being handed an information sheet, which says: "You are entitled to disagree with the procession and to make your views known peacefully.
"The procession has been permitted by a determination of the Parades Commission. People taking part in it also have a right to do so peacefully and safety." It says police will seek to facilitate peaceful protest where possible. In a hearing concluding at 02:15 BST on Sunday morning, Justice Michael Humphreys acknowledged the "unusual if not unprecedented circumstances... with a parade due to begin in just over six hours' time".
Delivering his judgement, Justice Humphreys said: "This court cannot substitute its own view or anyone else's view for that of the commission." Northern Ireland's most senior judge, Lady Chief Justice Siobhan Keegan, similarly described the situation as "unprecedented". On Friday, the Parades Commission said the march could go ahead along Garvaghy Road. Rather than start at 13:00 on Sunday as intended, the commission said it could begin no later than 08:00 and with 35 participants rather than the 60 the Orange Order requested.
But an initial legal challenge from the Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition (GRRC) at the High Court saw a judge issue an injunction banning the parade, with Judge Patricia Smyth saying the "long-running dispute has the potential to escalate within Northern Ireland". This was later successfully challenged by an Orange Order member at the Court of Appeal. Late on Saturday evening, the GRRC was given permission to challenge that decision at the High Court - an appeal which was dismissed by Justice Humphreys.
Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) MP Carla Lockhart and loyalist activist Jamie Bryson address the media after the final court ruling Violence related to the dispute resulted in riots, roadblocks and murders. When the Orange Order was prevented by police from walking down the route in July 1995 there was a tense stand-off. It was the same for the next three years.
The Orange Order is the most prominent of the loyal orders associated with Protestants in Northern Ireland. The Parades Commission began operating in 1998 to regulate parades and try to defuse tension around marches. Its decision not to allow a march down the Garvaghy Road that summer has been challenged by the order - unsuccessfully - over the past three decades.
A large crowd of protesters gathered on the Garvaghy Road in the early hours of Sunday after appeal court judges overturned an injunction temporarily banning the march. They remained largely peaceful. The road was blocked by two separate groups - masked men blocked the north end of the road, near where the parade is due to start, towards Drumcree; a separate group blocked the road to the south.
There was no police presence on the road throughout the night, although officers could be seen at various other locations nearby. Sínn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald and Stormont First Minister Michelle O'Neill visited the roadblock and spoke to the crowd, as did Breandan Mac Cionnaith of the GRRC. Reacting to the Court of Appeal ruling earlier, Mac Cionnaith said: "There's no such thing as justice or rights for our community.
I'm going back to help defend my community." Sínn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald and Stormont First Minister Michelle O'Neill also pledged to "[stand] fully with the Garvaghy Road community".
Source: bbc.com
