A case being taken to the Belfast Court of Appeal challenging the highly contentious march by the Orange Order down the Garvaghy Road will be heard on Monday as mediation on the Drumcree parade dispute has faltered with talks “between a rock and a hard place.”
Garvaghy residents have lodged a further appeal against the decision of the Parades Commission to allow the march walk along the Garvaghy Road last Sunday after a period of 28 years.
The controversial parade route through the Catholic nationalist area was the cause of prolonged tensions between 1995 and 1999 in particular and led to a period of violence and bloodshed in the locality which took up to 21 lives, including those of three young brothers,
This morning, US Congressman Richard Neal described the desire to march as “provocative”, in an interview with RTÉ.
“It is needlessly provocative at a time when we thought many of these issues had been put to bed, including the 28-year interval in which this had not been a flashpoint, and this is a moment of contention for the nationalist community,” the Democratic Congressman for Massachusetts’s 1st congressional district said.
He added that he was “surprised that the Parades Commission okayed the parade through the Garvaghy Road, but it’s also, I think, a needless point of antagonism.”
Yesterday, the British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Chris Bryant said talks over the parade dispute are between a “rock and a hard place”.
The talks had ended without resolution with Bryant saying: “We haven’t come to a settled agreement and it’s a shame but my door remains open obviously, tomorrow and in future days.”
A “wide range of options” had been discussed at the talks, including “mediation, including an option where the right to march was respected but wasn’t exercised, including an option where there was a final march and no further applications for marches into the future, and we’ve not managed to come to agreement on any of all that,” he said.
Breandán Mac Cionnaith, of the Garvaghy Road Residents’ Coalition, said that “the reality is” there is “no such thing as half a march” – while the Orange Order said the law needed to be applied.
Activist Jamie Bryson said the Orange Order will accept the determination of the legal appeal on Monday – saying “If we lose, we’ll accept that.”
PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher said yesterday that the situation in Portadown remained “challenging and complex”, and warned that the consequences of the PSNI forcing an Orange Order march down the Garvaghy Road “could be catastrophic” for the region.
“The parade could not safely be facilitated on Sunday 27 September, because of an unnotified protest that blocked the route. Officers repeatedly engaged with those involved and issued warnings,” he said.
“We considered a range of options, but assessed that the use of force required to clear the road risked serious harm and an escalation into disorder. That would not have been proportionate.”
He said that an investigation into the actions of those who blocked the parade was underway and that there would be “consequences” for those who acted illegally.
However, Mr Boutcher said he does not currently believe it is necessary to ask the secretary of state to review the Parades Commission’s decision to allow the march at Drumcree.
At the root of that decision was a security assessment by the PSNI guaranteeing no threat of disorder should a march be permitted. The PSNI have refused to release the details of that assessment.
A tense Belfast City Council meeting last night heard from both sides of the divide.
SDLP Councillor Séamas de Faoite described the week as “a sore sectarian scab that has been picked at”.
He then read out the names of all 21 people who lost their lives during the previous Drumcree crisis – saying “They are 21 reasons why we should not have picked at the issue”.
But DUP Alderman Dean McCullough was critical of Sinn Féin, asking “are you genuinely afraid of 35 Orangemen, some of them pensioners, walking down a road on a Sunday morning at 8am?