British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has called for calm in Northern Ireland after a High Court ruling allowed a contentious Orange Order parade to proceed along Garvaghy Road in Portadown.
Thousands of protesters, some wearing balaclavas, blocked the route and delayed the march. The parade was eventually given the go-ahead after a court hearing in Belfast concluded at 2.15am on Sunday.
The return of the march to Garvaghy Road for the first time in almost 30 years has reopened one of Northern Ireland’s most sensitive communal disputes. The road was a notorious flashpoint before the 1998 Good Friday Agreement helped bring an end to most of the bloodshed during the Troubles.
“I wish we weren’t in this position — I wish we weren’t looking at relitigating things of the past,” Northern Ireland Secretary of State Chris Bryant said.
Mr Burnham urged “calm on all sides”, saying there had been “big gains made in Northern Ireland, and we don’t want to see things go backwards.”
Jon Boutcher, head of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, called on people with influence to encourage compliance with the law. He said there had been no signs of violence or disorder, adding that officers were engaging with all parties.
“It is incumbent on us all to come together at times like this to do all we can to preserve a peaceful Northern Ireland,” he said.
The parade has divided political representatives from Northern Ireland’s nationalist and unionist communities. First Minister Michelle O’Neill, of Sinn Féin, said the decision had “brought into question how this whole peace process works”.
Speaking at the counter-protest on Garvaghy Road, 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.”
Gavin Robinson, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, accused Sinn Féin leaders of inflaming the situation. “The rule of law cannot apply only when Sinn Féin likes the outcome,” he said, adding that Northern Ireland’s institutions were founded on respect for the police, the courts and the rule of law.
The Orange Order is strongly supportive of Northern Ireland remaining part of the United Kingdom. Irish nationalists, most of them Catholic, seek union with the Republic of Ireland, while largely Protestant unionists want the region to remain in the UK.
The Troubles left about 3,600 people dead and 50,000 wounded. The Orange Order takes its name from William of Orange, the Protestant prince who defeated the Catholic King James and took the British throne in the 17th century.
