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Northern Ireland’s Secretary of State, Sir Chris Bryant, is set to engage in further discussions with local community leaders regarding the ongoing Drumcree parade dispute. This development follows a new legal action initiated by the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition, aiming to block the parade from proceeding. The Orange Order, whose permitted march was scheduled for Sunday, remains unable to begin their procession along the predominantly nationalist Garvaghy Road in Portadown.
The appeal from the Garvaghy Road residents represents the latest challenge to a parade that had been cleared after three separate legal hearings spanning over thirteen hours late Saturday night into early Sunday morning. Despite several attempts since Sunday by Orange Order members to commence the march, accompanied at times by police presence, no one remained at Drumcree Church by early Wednesday morning—marking the first break in the standoff. A further attempt was made late Tuesday evening by Portadown District Lodge to proceed, but the police declined the request to facilitate the parade.
The Drumcree march has a fraught history, having ignited some of the most intense unrest in Northern Ireland throughout the 1990s. For nearly three decades since 1998, the Orange Order was prohibited from completing this route, with the Parades Commission consistently denying permission. The Orange Order is a Protestant, pro-British organization, while the Garvaghy Road area is mainly Catholic and nationalist, which has fueled deep tensions over the parade.
Representatives from both the Orange Order and the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition met again with Sir Chris Bryant at Hillsborough Castle on Tuesday. Breandán Mac Cionnaith, speaking for the residents’ coalition, was clear about their position, stating, “reroute the sectarian parade, that’s it.” On the other hand, Nigel Dawson, Portadown District Master, described the talks as “positive and constructive.” Outside a large gathering near St John the Baptist Church on Garvaghy Road, Mac Cionnaith said the only remaining meeting pending was with the PSNI Chief Constable, Jon Boutcher, questioning whether the police chief would truly engage or “hide behind a wall of uniforms of police in riot gear.” Meanwhile, Dawson urged unionist leaders at an outdoor rally in Portadown to maintain pressure on officials to ensure the law is upheld, emphasizing that the police chief “must respect the High Court judgement” and allow the parade to proceed safely and securely along the designated route. Sinn Féin has meanwhile appealed for intervention from the Irish government
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