Protesters block controversial loyalist march route in Portadown

Hundreds of protesters blocked the route of a contentious loyalist parade in Portadown on Sunday after a court upheld permission for the march along the Garvaghy Road for the first time since 1998. The Drumcree parade was authorised by the Parades Commission subject to restrictions, including a limit of 35 participants, an 8am start and a requirement that it be held in silence. A court challenge and subsequent appeal did not overturn the decision.

Nationalist protesters gathered in driving rain and linked arms along the route. Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald called the decision “madness” and said the protest was peaceful, united and orderly. Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill also attended.

She said the decision had brought into question how the peace process worked and described families in the area as collectively and individually traumatised by the revival of the dispute. The Orangemen remained at a church about a mile from the proposed starting point and said they would wait until police told them the route was clear. The local Democratic Unionist Party MP, Carla Lockhart, accused O’Neill of encouraging an unlawful protest.

DUP leader Gavin Robinson said politicians were acting as law breakers. Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Bryant left the Labour Party conference to travel to Belfast. He said he did not have the power to cancel the parade unless police formally requested it, and urged political leaders to lower tensions.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham and Irish Taoiseach Mícheál Martin also called for calm, although Martin described the commission’s decision as wrong. The Drumcree dispute previously produced serious violence in Northern Ireland. The final legal hearing ended early on Sunday, with the judge saying courts should respect the commission’s judgment and should not interfere lightly with its decisions.