A Protestant Orange Order parade may proceed through the Catholic Garvaghy Road area of Portadown after Northern Ireland’s High Court rejected a fresh attempt to stop it.
The ruling followed the Court of Appeal’s decision to overturn a temporary injunction granted to residents who opposed the march. The residents had challenged a Parades Commission decision allowing the route, which had been prohibited for almost 30 years.
The commission’s determination permits a restricted procession of 35 people. It must begin by 8am and finish by 9.30am, with no supporters or bands allowed to take part.
A crowd gathered on the Garvaghy Road early on Sunday to protest against the decision. Northern Ireland’s First Minister, Michelle O’Neill, attended alongside Mary Lou McDonald, leader of the Irish nationalist Sinn Fein party.
In a video posted on social media, Ms McDonald told protesters: “Although the forces of darkness may want to stop us creating a new united Ireland, they will fail.”
Carla Lockhart, a Democratic Unionist Party MP, said outside court that Sinn Fein and other nationalist politicians should respect the ruling.
“It is up to Sinn Fein and other nationalist politicians to abide by the rule of law and allow the parade to pass through,” she told reporters.
The route has long been one of Northern Ireland’s most sensitive sectarian flashpoints. Annual attempts by the Protestant Orange Order to march through the Catholic enclave caused unrest before the route was banned in 1998, the year the Good Friday Agreement largely brought an end to the three decades of violence known as the Troubles.
The Parades Commission had initially upheld the ban, but that decision was quashed by the High Court in August after a procedural error. Its replacement decision on Friday allowed the restricted march to go ahead, prompting the legal challenge from Garvaghy Road residents.
