Protesters blocking Garvaghy Road ahead of Orange Order march
Protesters blocking Garvaghy Road ahead of Orange Order march
Mark Simpson - community correspondent; Darran Marshall - BBC News NI; Michael Fitzpatrick - BBC News NI... See more Sun, September 27, 2026 at 8:49 PM UTC
0
Hundreds of protesters are blocking a road in Portadown after a contentious Orange Order parade was given late-night clearance to march down it for the first time in almost 30 years.
Following a series of legal challenges, a ruling by the Parades Commission permitting the Drumcree parade down the mainly nationalist Garvaghy Road was upheld in an "unprecedented" sitting of the High Court in Belfast.
Northern Ireland's First Minister Michelle O'Neill has joined protesters, while members of the Orange Order and Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politicians have gathered about a mile away, waiting for the road to clear.
DUP leader Gavin Robinson said O'Neill was breaking the law by protesting.
He said the first minister had "broken her pledge of office".
"It is shameful that we see on the streets of Portadown, a first minister, a collection of ministers and series of elected representatives who are participating in an unlawful protest, who are blocking the road and who are giving two fingers to the police, the courts and the rule of law," he added.
Sinn Féin has been contacted for comment.
Northern Ireland Secretary Sir Chris Bryant, who returned from the Labour Party conference for talks, urged both sides to "double down on compromise" and said "nobody should be attending an unlawful protest".
Sir Chris met politicians from the DUP, the Alliance Party, the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) in relation to the Drumcree dispute on Sunday evening, but Sinn Féin said, while they had agreed to meet, the form did not suit the secretary of state.
On the Garvaghy Road, First Minister Michelle O'Neill urged protesters to stay on the road until at least midnight.
"The reason the parade has not come down this road thus far is because you are here, and we need you to stay the course, we need you to stay here to 12 o'clock tonight at least," she said.
Orange Order march row goes to heart of ongoing divisions in Northern Ireland
What is the Garvaghy Road dispute all about?
In the 1990s, the Drumcree parade sparked some of the most serious disorder in Northern Ireland's history.
The Orange Order, the most prominent of the loyal orders associated with Protestants in Northern Ireland, holds thousands of parades every year and the vast majority pass off without incident.
However, many Catholics see the marches as sectarian and object to them passing through, or close to, Catholic or nationalist areas.
The Garvaghy Road had been part of the Drumcree route, but by the mid 1990s nationalist residents protested against the parade.
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.
Violence related to the dispute resulted in riots, roadblocks and murders across Northern Ireland.
In 1998, the newly-established Parades Commission ruled that the Orange Order should not march down the road - a decision upheld until Friday.
This was the scene on the Garvaghy Road on Sunday afternoon
On Sunday, protesters started gathering on the Garvaghy Road in the early hours of Sunday, after the final court decision.
Police are monitoring the situation and dozens of armoured vehicles have arrived in the town. They have called on protesters to clear the route.
The march was meant to begin no later than 08:00 BST, but police have told the Orange Order that the road is not clear.
Members of the Portadown District Lodge are waiting in a hall at Drumcree Parish Church. They intend to walk from there down the Garvaghy Road to Carleton Street Orange Hall in the town, where supporters are waiting for them to arrive.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has appealed for "calm on all sides", saying there have been "big gains made in Northern Ireland, and we don't want to see things go backwards".
Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) Micheál Martin also appealed for calm, but he said he found the original decision by the Parades Commission "incomprehensible and wrong".
O'Neill has questioned the decision making of the Parades Commission and called on the Northern Ireland Secretary Sir Chris Bryant to intervene in the parade dispute.
Asked if she thought Stormont could collapse over Drumcree, she said: "The progress of the last 28 years have been brought into question by the actions of the Orange Order and those within political unionism that want to drag us backwards.
Advertisement
"What's the point? What's the point whenever people are going to railroad over their rights?"
DUP MP Carla Lockhart said the first minister was "whipping up hysteria" at an unlawful protest.
She called O'Neill's comments "outrageous" and the protesters a "rabble".
"The law is on our side," she said. "They're afraid of 35 men, walking down a road silently."
Claire Hanna, from the nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), called for "political leadership" and said it was "necessary to de-escalate".
The SDLP leader, who was at the protest, has called on the chief constable and Northern Ireland secretary to "use every power available" to intervene, and said she had reminded both that they had the "ability to revoke any permission for this parade".
"Whatever the legalities, it was never politically right or morally right to do this," Hanna added.
Speaking to the media at Waterfront Hall, where she attended a National Police Memorial Day event, the Justice Minister Naomi Long said there was a "predictability about all of this" adding that this was an "entirely avoidable conflict".
The Alliance Party leader urged the dispute to be "pulled back from the brink".
Long said there was "there was no need to drag us back towards the past" and, irrespective of the decision made, she said public representatives must "respect the rule of law", adding that it was up to the PSNI chief constable to decide if the law has been broken.
Northern Ireland Secretary Sir Chris Bryant said Sunday was a "difficult" day for police in Northern Ireland, and he has called for "compromise" from all involved parties.
He said it was not his job "to decide whether somebody has or hasn't broken the law".
"Those of us who are in elected office have a particular onus on us to try and calm and bring temperate language to everything," he told reporters at the Waterfront event.
Sir Chris said he wants to "sit down with everybody" and give them the same message, suggesting rhetoric needed to be brought down "20, 30, maybe even 40 per cent less".
Chief Constable Jon Boutcher addressed reporters outside the Waterfront Hall, where he attended a National Police Memorial Day event
Earlier on Sunday, Chief Constable Jon Boutcher said: "The policing operation thus far has helped ensure there has been no violence or disorder".
The last 24 hours have been "very challenging for our people", he later told reporters at the Waterfront, adding that the police have been "evidence gathering".
"So whatever's been happening, by whatever party, we've been gathering the evidence of what they've been doing," he said. "So we'll deal with that at the right time."
He added he wants everybody to find "a place that they can, with dignity, walk away from the current situation", and said the policing response will remain "proportionate".
Boutcher said a successful conclusion to the current situation would be that "not one hair on one head gets harmed", but added there needs to be a "longer-term conversation".
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.
In a hearing concluding at 02:15 BST on Sunday morning, Justice Humphreys acknowledged the "unusual if not unprecedented circumstances... with a parade due to begin in just over six hours' time".
Delivering his judgement, he 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".
Orange Order has never 'shied away' from Drumcree mediation
Call for international mediator to resolve Drumcree dispute
High Court quashes decision to restrict annual Drumcree parade
Source: “AOL Breaking”
